His thoughts were slow. His words were few and never formed to glisten. But he was a joy to all his friends, you should have heard him LISTEN!
—Unknown
The art of conversation lies in listening.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Skillful listening is the best remedy for loneliness, loquaciousness, and laryngitis.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
If animals could talk, the world would lose its best listeners.
—Robert Brault
We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
No one is listening until you fart.
—Unknown
People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase.
—Brian Koslow
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
No one is as deaf as the man who will not listen.
—Yiddish Proverb
Never tell your story to a deaf man.
—Common Proverb
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also.
—Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Russian-born American Composer, Musician
To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.
—John Marshall (1755–1835) American Judge, Lawyer
Man’s inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.
—Carl Rogers (1902–1987) American Psychologist
A good listener is a silent flatterer
—Common Proverb
Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. You can see that when you think how the friends that really listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius as though it did us good, like ultraviolet rays.
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) American Journalist Memoirist
I’m glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility.
—Nikki Giovanni (b.1943) American Poet, Writer, Activist, Educator
My first rule of conversation is this: I never learn a thing while I’m talking. I realize every morning that nothing I say today will teach me anything, so if I’m going to learn a lot today, I’ll have to do it by listening.
—Larry King (1933–2021) American TV Personality, Radio Personality, Journalist
Listening well and answering well is one of the greatest perfections that can be obtained in conversation.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
No one every listened themselves out of a job.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we say.
—Unknown
Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Give every man your ear, but few thy voice. Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while, he knows something.
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American Playwright, Entrepreneur
People will feel safer around you and speak truthfully to you when they feel you are listening intently to them.
—Brian Koslow
I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.
—Diane Sawyer (b.1945) American Journalist, TV Personality
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Opportunities are often missed because we are broadcasting when we should be listening.
—Unknown
Listening is more important than talking. Just hit your mark and believe what you say. Just listen to people and react to what they are saying.
—Jimmy Fallon (b.1974) American Comedian, TV Personality, Actor, Musician
When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening.
—Carl Rogers (1902–1987) American Psychologist
If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.
—Turkish Proverb
Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we really listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other. We are constantly being re-created.
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) American Journalist Memoirist
Home is where you can say anything you like cause nobody listens to you anyway.
—Unknown
Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman
Are you really listening… or are you just waiting for your turn to talk?
—Robert Montgomery (1904–81) American Film, Television Actor, Director, Producer
He listens well who takes notes.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart.
—Richard Carlson (1912–77) American Actor, TV Personality, Film Director, Screenwriter
A hungry stomach has no ears.
—Common Proverb
Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.
—American Indian Proverb
A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.
—Katharine Whitehorn (1928–2021) English Journalist, Writer, Columnist
Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation.
—Chinese Proverb
It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
The less you talk, the more you’re listened to.
—Pauline Phillips (Abigail van Buren) (b.1918) American Columnist