Quotes About Communication

Leave a silence alone, no matter how awkward it felt. Invariably the other person filled it, often with something unexpected.

at least leave a phone message with HR saying that you've forwarded your résumé and you'd love to interview for the job.

When you answer questions about your educational or work history, let your enthusiasm about different projects and situations come through (e.g., "It was so much more than I could have hoped for in an internship. I had the chance to actually write up the newsletter and work with a designer to put it together. I loved every minute of it.").

When your boss assigns you a project, take good notes and ask questions regarding anything you're not sure about. Over the years, I've noticed that junior staffers are often reluctant to ask too many questions about a project—perhaps

It may sound as though she wants a simple PowerPoint presentation about the business, but if she's hoping to persuade a client of something, you'll want your slides to help do that. Be clear, too, about deadlines and who needs to be looped in on the project.

the smartest things you can do is talk to someone who has done a similar project before and confirm what those steps are. Perhaps

Shoot off an e-mail saying "A handwritten note will follow, but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed talking to you. The job sounds terrific.

If you've just had a brief conversation at an event, ask, "Is it all right if I drop you a note?" You can follow up with a question in writing. Also, periodically send your potential mentor or sponsor information that she will find insightful. When you have an accomplishment under your belt, let her know about it.

Guys rarely behave logically when it comes to women.

it's this: the squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease. One of the most important things you must learn to do in your career is ask—in the right way. You must ask for money, responsibility, opportunities, title changes, benefits, bonuses, and perks. And don't

But though he lacked the gift of intimacy, in many ways his supportive love still came through to me. He somehow conveyed his belief in me without ever articulating it, and that was the single most sustaining thing in my life.

The only way to assert the right to publish is to publish.

One speaker after another used to start his presentation coyly by saying, "Lady and gentlemen," or "Gentlemen and Mrs. Graham," always with slight giggles or snickers.

You might say she feels in italics and thinks in capital letters!

People can't hear anything except when it's nonsense. Then they hear every word. If you try to talk sense, they think you don't mean it, or don't know anything anyway, or it's not true, or it's against religion, or it's not what they are used to reading in the newspapers...

We are trying to communicate that which lies in our deepest heart, which has no words, which can only be hinted at through the means of a story. And somehow, miraculously, a story that comes from deep in my heart calls from a reader that which is deepest in his or her heart, and together from our secret hidden selves we create a story that neither of us could have told alone.

They ate a late lunch in the cafeteria. When she mentioned lunch, he realized with horror that he would need money, and he didn't know how to tell her that he hadn't brought any—didn't have any to bring, for that matter. But before he had time to figure anything out, she said, "Now I'm not going to have any argument about whose paying. I'm a liberated woman, Jess Aarons. When I invite a man out, I pay.

They were always nice to Jess when he went over, but then they would suddenly begin talking about French politics or string quartets (which he at first thought was a square box made out of string), or how to save the timber wolves or redwoods or singing whales, and he was scared to open his mouth and show once and for all how dumb he was.

Brenda's pouting voice broke in, "Your girl friend's dead, and Momma thought you was dead, too.

The very persons who have taken away my time and space are those who have given me something to say.

It had never occurred to Jess that parents were meant to be understood any more than the safe at the Millsburg First National was sitting around begging him to crack it.

Parents were what they were; it was not up to you to try to puzzle them out.

The moral, of course, is that you must always try to see other people's Point of View before you criticize anybody. Histories are crammed full of unkind things, silly things, and untrue things—why? Because so often the people who write them will not try to see or feel any Point of View but their own...So mind that you always look out for the Point of View and help people to see yours, too, if you want them to understand you.

I feel very silly saying to you, Tell me all about yourself, but I wish you would. I want to get to know you. That's not how you get to know people. Don't you know? You can't talk it out, you've got to live into their lives, bad and good. You'll know me soon enough. What I want you to know.