Quotes About Oasans

Why was even the shallowest human conversation so fraught with pitfalls and tricky calibrations? Why couldn't people just keep silent until they had something essential to say, like the Oasans?

Oasans slept a lot; they got tired easily. They'd work for an hour or two, and then, whether the task had been arduous or not, they would go home and rest in bed for a while. Peter stretched in