The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
—Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) Vietnamese Buddhist Religious Leader, Teacher, Author, Peace Activist
If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.
—Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (1857–1941) English Soldier, Founder of the Boy Scouts
No man would listen to you talk if he didn’t know it was his turn next.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
No one every listened themselves out of a job.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
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 animals could talk, the world would lose its best listeners.
—Robert Brault
He listens well who takes notes.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
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
You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue; and no genius can long or often utter anything which is not invited and gladly entertained by men around him.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American 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
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 secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
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
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
It takes a great man to make a good listener.
—Arthur Helps (1813–75) British Essayist, Historian
A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?
—Unknown
If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story 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
Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.
—Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) American Psychologist, Advice Columnist
The less you talk, the more you’re listened to.
—Pauline Phillips (Abigail van Buren) (b.1918) American Columnist
A good listener is a silent flatterer
—Common Proverb
You can judge a good listener by asking the talker at the end of the conversation what the listener’s position is on the topic. If the talker doesn’t know, then the listener has probably done a good job of listening.
—Unknown
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
Listening to people keeps them entertained.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Never tell your story to a deaf man.
—Common 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
We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.
—Diogenes Laertius (f.3rd Century CE) Biographer of the Greek Philosophers
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Leave a Reply