Quotes About Communication

Don't we all know how to ask questions? Of course we think we know how to ask, but we fail to notice how often even our questions are just another form of telling—rhetorical or just testing whether what we think is right. We are biased toward telling instead of asking because we live in a pragmatic, problem-solving culture in which knowing things and telling others what we know is valued.

Gratuitous telling betrays three kinds of arrogance: (1) that you think you know more than the person you're telling, (2) that your knowledge is the correct knowledge, and (3) that you have the right to structure other people's experience for them.

The tongue may be an unruly member-- But silence poisons the soul.

Men hate to be misunderstood, and to be understood makes them furious.

Unwritten thought is an incomplete thought.

the top of a batch of envelopes and

Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.

Don't abuse your friends and expect them to consider it criticism.

Express a mean opinion of yourself occasionally; it will show your friends that you know how to tell the truth.

Many people would be more truthful were it not for their uncontrollable desire to talk.

When I did it with Johnny, it was almost a telepathic kind of communication.

I notice me. I notice you too. And there are simple things that we don't even try anymore. There's a way out of this. Beat the time. And every time I turn around we got some clever way to put each other down.

Oddly, Leigh couldn't think of anything to say. How exactly should one respond to a threat spelled out in fish?

But what Ben was doing was different. He wasn't using the information against her. He was merely trying to keep the peace.

The worst part of dealing with his sisters was that they were all so damned smart. Ever since he'd returned to the Parker family headquarters he'd tried to be "helpful" and get the mail himself. But it didn't arrive consistently, and he couldn't be walking out to the street every five minutes all day long. "Oh?" he muttered, allowing himself only a brief glance at the letter before returning

We're living in a time when parenting is not at all mirroring the way I was parented. For me, I just followed my parents around on their errands when they were busy on the phone, I was quiet. It's a different kettle of fish these days: They run the house, and you listen to their music, and you go to their appointments.

Tell one your thoughts, but beware of two. All know what is known to three

There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty. Yet, unless we do try, something unique and never surpassed will cease to exist except in the libraries of a few inquisitive book lovers.

He is not a pleasant person,' I said. 'I don't know what we need him for.' 'You'll just have to learn to get along with him,' my mother replied. We were speaking of her husband, the man she had chosen to father her children.

Children should be seen and not heard,' my mother contributed grimly, ganging up on me. That was the worst part, having her join the enemy. I knew it was her idea of diplomacy, and that it probably stemmed from cowardice, but to me it was simple betrayal, selling out her own child for the sake of peace.

But you said the words you knew, which were not always the ones you meant.

It is not a waste to write beautiful prose or poetry for one person's eyes alone!

Writing for enjoyment of expression does not need an audience of more than one.

Ah, good conversation — there's nothing like it, is there? The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.