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Quotations
On Conversation
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- The
pith
of conversation does
not consist in exhibiting your own superior knowledge on matters of
small
consequence, but in enlarging, improving and correcting the information
you possess by the authority of others.—Sir Walter Scott.
- There
are
three things in speech
that ought to be considered before some things are spoken—the manner,
the
place and the time. —Southey.
- The
secret
of tiring is to say
everything that can be said on the subject.—Voltaire.
- Speak
little and well if you
wish to be considered as possessing merit.—From the French.
- The
less
men think, the more
they talk.—Montesquieu.
- He who
sedulously attends, pointedly
asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to
say, is in possession of some of the best requisites of man.—Lavater.
- Amongst
such as out of cunning
hear all and talk little, be sure to talk less; or if you must talk,
say
little.—La Bruyère.
- Not
only
to say the right thing
in the right place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the
wrong thing at the tempting moment.—G.A. Sala.
- When
we
are in the company of
sensible men, we ought to be doubly cautious of talking too much, lest
we lose two good things, their good opinion and our own improvement;
for
what we have to say we know, but what they have to say we know
not.—Colton.
- Never
hold
any one by the button
or the hand in order to be heard out; for if people are unwilling to
hear
you, you had better hold your tongue than them.—Chesterfield.
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- One
thing
which makes us find
so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is,
that
there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about
to
say than of answering precisely what is said to him.—La Rochefoucauld.
- The
first
ingredient in conversation
is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth
wit.—Author
Unknown
- It is
a
secret known but to
few, yet of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall
into
a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether
he
has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear
him.—Steele.
- In my
whole life I have only
known ten or twelve persons with whom it was pleasant to speak—i.e.,
who
keep to the subject, do not repeat themselves, and do not talk of
themselves;
men who do not listen to their own voice, who are cultivated enough not
to lose themselves in commonplaces, and, lastly, who possess tact and
good
taste enough not to elevate their own persons above their
subjects.—Metternich.
- There
is
speaking well, speaking
easily, speaking justly and speaking seasonably: It is offending
against
the last, to speak of entertainments before the indigent; of sound
limbs
and health before the infirm; of houses and lands before one who has
not
so much as a dwelling; in a word, to speak of your prosperity before
the
miserable; this conversation is cruel, and the comparison which
naturally
arises in them betwixt their condition and yours is excruciating.—La
Bruyère.
- Egotists
cannot converse, they
talk to themselves only.—A. Bronson Alcott.
- Many can
argue, not many converse.—A.
Bronson Alcott.
- The
extreme pleasure we take
in talking of ourselves should make us fear that we give very little to
those who listen to us.—La Rochefoucauld.
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