…the one event which never loses its romance is the encounter with superior persons on terms allowing the happiest intercourse.
Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, not an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.
Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses.
Your talk is surely the handiwork of wisdom because not one word of it do I understand.
Book: “The Third Policeman” by Flann O’Brien
A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music—that would be rest.
Conversation enriches the understanding; but solitude is the school of genius.
Never take your eyes off the person thinking—we think best if the listener looks interested.
One factor that makes it rare for us to find people who can carry on an agreeable and rational conversation is that there are practically no people who do not think first of all about what they want to say, rather than responding precisely to what others are saying to them. The politest people are content merely to show an attentive mien, while all the time we see that their eyes and their minds are wandering, and that they are in a rush to return to what they want to say. They should consider that this insistent search for self-satisfaction is a poor way of giving pleasure, and that it is a greater accomplishment to listen well and reply justly than to speak well and often without responding to what others are saying to us.
Be skilled in speech so that you will succeed. The tongue of a man is his sword and effective speech is stronger than all fighting. None can overcome the skillful. A wise person is a school for the nobles and those who are aware of his knowledge do not attack him. No evil takes place when he is near. Truth comes to him in its essential form, shaped in the sayings of the ancestors. Follow in the footsteps of your ancestors, for the mind is trained through knowledge. Behold, their words endure in books. Open and read them and follow their wise counsel.
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
All this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.
Movie: You’ve Got Mail
The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather what he does not say.