Quotes About Communication

This prevented Elaine from making up any stories about whomever I was seeing at the time, man or woman. Therefore, no one was falsely accused of shitting in the bed.

Every misunderstanding has at its center a breakdown of language.

He's from Finland," Alice explained. "That means your father has gone to Helsinki, Jack.

Sempre há suicídios entre as pessoas que não conseguem dizer o que querem

um auditório já cansado de fazer ecoar discursos que ninguém ouvia.

There are always suicides," Garp wrote, "among people who are unable to say what they mean.

Just be sure you talk to her, Jack. Ask her everything, while there's still time.

But he was not acting in this performance—they were.

It's like reading a bad newspaper or a bad piece in a magazine. (on Tom Wolfe)

It means touch, basically—almost a hammered kind of touch

Not only did Catholics kneel and mutter litanies and creeds without ceasing, but they ritualized any hope of contact with God to such an extent that Owen felt they'd interfered with his ability to pray—to talk to God DIRECTLY, as Owen put it.

The girl looked too frightened to speak. Then she said: "I know you have to give my mother the flag—at the funeral. I know what my mother's gonna do—when you give her the flag. She said she's gonna spit on you," the pregnant sister told Owen. "And I know her—she will!" the girl said. "She'll spit in your face!" "IT HAPPENS, SOMETIMES," Owen said.

Father was pretty good on the telephone; he counted the holes. Even so, Father still got a lot of wrong numbers, and they made him so cross that he invariably shouted to the persons on the receiving end of his calls—as if the wrong numbers had been their fault. "Jesus God!" he would holler. "You're the wrong number!" Thus, in this small way, did my Father and his Louisville Slugger terrorize a portion of New York.

What woman wants to hear someone say what her husband is thinking? What guy is going to be happy hearing what's on his wife's mind?

Owen and I were eleven; we had no other way to articulate what we felt about what had happened to my mother. He gave me his baseball cards, but he really wanted them back, and I gave him my stuffed armadillo, which I certainly hoped he'd give back to me—all because it was impossible for us to say to each other how we really felt. How did it feel to hit a ball that hard—and then realize that the ball had killed your best friend's mother?

I just love it when certain people feel free to tell writers what the correct words are. When I hear the same people use impact as a verb, I want to throw up!

Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean, make sure they know what you mean!

Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean-- make sure they know what they mean!

Lupe's language was incomprehensible—what came out of her mouth didn't even sound like Spanish.

But Americans are not great historians, and so, for years—educated by my neighbor—I thought that sagamore was an Indian word for lake.

The temptation to touch each other, even to bash their shopping carts together, was removed from them, and they all settled into being the kind of friends many old friends become: that is, they were friends when they heard from each other – or when, occasionally, they got together. And when they were not in touch, they did not think of one another.

Danny knew what Armando would say: "You don't try to make peace with assholes," or words to that effect

When you write vaguely, you are always vulnerable.

I said, I'm talking to you!" "No, you aren't," she said, continuing to walk through the mud. "If you were talking to me, you'd use my real name." Picking up his pace, the drunk laughed. "How'm I supposed to know who you are?" "Precisely!