Quotes About Communication

Play the psychoanalyst: make cutting comments concerning their unconscious motives (you are only being truthful), then sit back and listen. Your silence will goad them into embarrassing admissions. Leaven your judgments with occasional praise and they will strive to please you, like dogs.

You must be particularly careful to never make people feel stupid in your presence.

You may have brilliant ideas, the kind that could revolutionize the world, but unless you can express them effectively, they will have no force, no power to enter people's minds in a deep and lasting way.

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

The world is full of self-absorbed people. In their presence, we know that everything in our relationship with them is directed toward themselves—their insecurities, their neediness, their hunger for attention.

Never Be the Bearer of Bad News. The king kills the messenger who brings bad news: This is a cliche but there is truth to it. You must struggle and if necessary lie and cheat to be sure that the lot of the bearer of bad news falls on a colleague, never on you. Bring only good news and your approach will gladden your master.

Follow David's example: say or do something that can be read in more than one way, that may be superficially polite but that could also indicate a slight coolness on your part or be seen as a subtle insult. A friend may wonder but will let it pass. The secret enemy, though, will react with anger.

Es mejor ser agredido o difamado que ignorado.

human tongue is a beast that few can master.

Think Like a Writer

The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Daily Law: Think more like a writer in approaching the people you deal with, even the worst sorts.

we continually consult our smartphones as a kind of substitute pair of eyes upon us.

Plus vous vous laissez aller à parler, plus vous avez l'air banal et peu maître de vous-même. Même anodines, vos paroles sembleront originales si elles restent vagues et énigmatiques. Les personnages puissants impressionnent et intimident parce qu'ils sont peu loquaces. Plus vous en dites et plus vous risquez de dire des bêtises.

With the company, we should look deeply at the organization itself—how well people communicate with one another, how quickly and fluidly information is passed along. If people are not communicating, if they are not on the same page, no amount of changes in the product or marketing will improve performance.

We don't say what we feel even when it would be appropriate, and we fail to set boundaries to people's harmful behavior. We find it hard to ask for a raise or a promotion or the respect due to us. Losing our bold spirit, a positive form of aggression, is losing a deep part of our self, and it is inevitably painful.

You often do not know your friends as well as you imagine. Friends often agree on things in order to avoid an argument. They cover up their unpleasant qualities so as not offend each other. They laugh extra hard at each others jokes. Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. Friends will say they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in clothes - maybe they mean, often they do not.

Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

lesson: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.

You do not have to know all the details. Sometimes you need to delegate—let your subordinates handle the information gathering.

it is far easier to avoid creating envy in the first place than to get rid of it once it is there, ...

Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.

A través de una exposición continua a la gente y tratando de pensar dentro de ella podemos obtener una sensación creciente de su perspectiva, pero esto requiere un esfuerzo de nuestra parte.

Tan pronto como te sientes contra mí, has dejado de comprender mi posición, ¡y por tanto mis argumentos! Tienes que ser víctima de la misma pasión".