Quotes About Listening

Good was above all kind; it was to be gentle. It was to waste nothing. It was to paint, to read, to study, to listen.

She was coming. She was moving close to the hall. He felt himself slip away from his body into pure listening; yes, it was she. All the sounds of the night rose to confuse him, yet he caught it; a low irreducible sound which she could not veil, the sound of her breathing, of the beat of her heart, of a force moving through space at tremendous and unnatural speed, causing the inevitable tumult amid the visible and the invisible.

She'd always liked to listen to people, especially when they talked so much that she didn't have to say anything much herself.

He was so rapt in his thoughts that he did not hear anything much that Guido was saying, that lovely bubbling speech of Guido's when he was at last content. Tonio allowed it to pass over him, and now and then he would give a little gracious nod.

Weary of the Mind Gift and its random messages, he wanted to hear spoken words.

He appeared to be listening, but he said nothing. His youthful face was deceiving, but his violet eyes were truly wonderful.

The man just stood there, looking at him; and Elliott had the weirdest sense of being listened to, studied. It made him aware of how inattentive most human beings were in general.

Where was he now, my beauteous pupil? I listened but I heard nothing.

There isn't a soul in the world whom Heaven doesn't regard in particular fashion. There isn't a sigh or a word that Heaven fails to hear." I

Good was above all kind; it was to be gentle. It was to waste nothing. It was to paint, to read, to study, to listen, even to pray, though to whom I prayed I wasn't sure, and it was to take every opportunity to be generous to those mortals whom I did not kill.

You know why I like to talk to you, Delia? You never interrupt with your experiences. Not jiggling your foot till you get a chance to jump in with your life history.

I think if you knew them well enough, if you'd listened to them closely enough while they were still alive, you might be able to imagine what they would tell you even now. So the smart thing to do is, pay attention while they're living.

God," he said. "I come here to say I feel bad about your husband, and listen to me, yakking about my own little troubles." "I wouldn't call divorce a little trouble," Willa said.

What I do like listening to as I write is the sound of ordinary life out in the street—children playing and workmen talking.

When studying tools of influence, people always ask the question, "How can I make them listen to me?" They ask because that is what they think they want to learn. Unfortunately, this can never be learned because it can't be done. You can't make someone listen. You can entice, inspire, cajole, stimulate, or fascinate but you cannot make anyone listen to anything. Embracing this fact up-front lets us focus on what we can do.

The reader's ear must adjust down from loud life to the subtle, imaginary sounds of the written word. An ordinary reader picking up a book can't yet hear a thing; it will take half an hour to pick up the writing's modulations, its ups and downs and louds and softs.

a few of the principles by which I live: A good gag is worth any amount of time, money and effort; never draw to fill an inside straight; always keep score in games, never in love; never say 'Muskrat Ramble'; always keep them guessing; never listen to the same conversation twice; and (this is the hard part) listen to no one.

I wanted to listen to him, but I did not want to answer now. That strange responsibility we feel towards others when they speak, to offer them the solace of any answer. Poor humans! And anyway he had not asked a question. He was merely floating there in the room, insubstantial, a living man in the midst of life, dying imperceptibly on his feet, like all of us.

A fool's way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise. 16 A fool's displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible.

What most people want in a leader is something that's very difficult to find: we want someone who listens...The secret, Reagan's secret, is to listen, to value what you hear, and then to make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. Reagan impressed his advisers, his adversaries, and his voters by actively listening. People want to be sure you hear what they said - they're less focused on whether or not you do what they said.

When Pat Holt strings together a list of words not to overuse—"Actually, totally, absolutely, completely, continually, constantly, continuously, literally, really, unfortunately, ironically, incredibly, hopefully, finally"—she's not being a stickler for formality and grammar. Instead she's reminding us that words matter, that poor word use is just a red flag for someone who wants to ignore you.

Waiting isn't easy, which is precisely why it is so effective when engaging with other people.

What most people want in a leader is something that's very difficult to find: we want someone who listens. Why

The way we make things better is by caring enough about those we serve to imagine the story that they need to hear.