Quotes About Conversation

I remember once asking Grandma about a book she was reading, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and how she answered me: this was the first conversation of my life that concerned a book, and 'the life of the mind' - and now, such subjects have become my life.

I mostly don't submit to talking about my work because I would like another talk about real life.

I always enjoy conversation more if there is some substance to it - which is a just incredibly hilarious thing for me to say because for many, many years I was the guy whose only contribution to any conversation was, 'There was a funny 'Simpson's' joke about that.'

It's important, at least for me, that while we're entertaining, there's also something substantive to talk about.

I really enjoy hosting, not necessarily because it provides more airtime, but because it allows me to be a part of more substantive discussions.

We all lose when bullying and personal attacks become a substitute for genuine conversation and principled disagreement.

I was brought up in Guildford, and I think I used to absorb all the suburban things - seeing coffee mornings, women talking... that stuff, really. I was watching Alan Ayckbourn on some documentary, and he was talking about how he was around a lot of women as a child, listening to all that stuff.

In New York you can just walk out and be among people. You're on the subway among people, you go to cafes, you can talk to people.

If you let a person talk long enough, you'll hear their true intentions.

If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.

No road is long with good company.

Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature – all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you'll find out how big a prize you've won.

Caring about their answers will put the other person at ease, but more importantly, it will often put you at ease too. It will get them—and you—into the mode of inquiry, the mode of curiosity, the mode of conversation, and the mode of learning. It will signal that you feel you can learn from them, and encourage them to feel comfortable responding in kind. Most importantly, it will take you out of the realm of the dull, obvious, phony job interview.

Get Candidates Telling Stories About Themselves Rather than Reciting Facts or Canned Answers A simple question designed to elicit a story, such as "What did you do this morning?," is a good way to begin to get to know a person without being threatening.

Make full use of the fact that up to a certain point, fatigue makes women talk more and men talk less. Much secret resentment, even between lovers, can be raised from this.

One who thinks by the inch and talks by the mile should be kicked by the foot.

Everyone does it." "But no one talks about it," Gloria said. "About the different levels of skill involved. You have to practice before you become a great masturbator.

Never underestimate the power of a good cup of coffee.

Thus spake to him the steeds who

Gossip can be entertaining—occasionally I've heard the most fascinating things about myself I never knew.

a chiacchiera è il companatico della miseria!

Surely only boring people went in for conversations consisting of questions and answers. The art of true conversation consisted in the play of minds.

I know one husband and wife who, whatever the official reasons given to the court for the break up of their marriage, were really divorced because the husband believed that nobody ought to read while he was talking and the wife that nobody ought to talk while she was reading.

The older people always talked to her as though she were of an age to understand the table conversation even when her head barely reached the top of the table. And somehow it indeed came to be that she understood them perfectly and even formed opinions.