Quotes About Communication

There is no weapon so disarming and effective in relations with the communists as sheer honesty. They know very little about it.

Statesmen of this type know what to do and when to do it, if they are to achieve their ends, which themselves are usually not born within some private world of inner thought, or introverted feeling, but are the crystallisation, the raising to great intensity and clarity, of what a large number of their fellow citizens are thinking and feeling in some dim, inarticulate but nevertheless persistent fashion.

Albanian dogs go "ham ham." In Catalan, dogs go "bup bup." The Chinese dogs say "wang wang," the Greek dogs go "gav gav," the Slovenians "hov hov," and the Ukrainians "haf haf." In Iceland, it's "voff," in Indonesia, it's "gong gong," and in Italian, it's "bau bau.

There is more information in one edition of the New York Times than the average person in 17th-century England would have come across in a lifetime.

Pedants should be aware that the English name for the world's highest mountain should be spoken aloud as EEV-uh-rest, not EV-uh-rest.

These are my confessions, and if in them I say nothing, it is because I have nothing to say.

Zischeln is a useful German verb meaning "to whisper angrily.

What is literally the most misused word in the English language? The word 'literally' has been used to mean its opposite for over 200 years.

The name 'United Nations' was Franklin D. Roosevelt's idea. He rushed to tell Winston Churchill, who was towelling himself stark naked in his bathroom.

Introducing 'Lite' – The new way to spell 'Light', but with 20 per cent fewer letters. JERRY SEINFELD

Plants grow more quickly if you talk to them in a Geordie accent.

Marriage is like a bank account. You put it in, you take it out, you lose interest. IRWIN CAREY

There is no limit to a woman's intelligence provided she is not required to be coherent. MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

Cats could follow human instructions if they wanted to, but they don't.

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising. MARK TWAIN

Vranyo is Russian for lying even when everyone knows that's what you're doing.

Most men who rail against women are railing at one woman only. RÉMY DE GOURMONT

Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union. SAMUEL GOLDWYN

You should never, ever be understood completely. That's like the kiss of death, isn't it? It's a full stop. I don't ever think you should put full stops on thoughts. They change.

I'm not very good at handling stupid people. I must admit.

So the final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that those who occupy positions of authority must lessen the panic that can alienate all within a society. Society cannot function if it is every man for himself. By definition, civilization cannot survive that. Those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best.

Part of that relationship requires political leaders to understand the truth—and to be able to handle the truth.

For if there is a single dominant lesson from 1918, it's that governments need to tell the truth in a crisis.

So the problems presented by a pandemic are, obviously, immense. But the biggest problem lies in the relationship between governments and the truth.