Dean Swift’s rule is as good for women as for men — never to talk above a half minute without pausing, and giving others an opportunity to strike in.
Quotations about:
dialog
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Were we as eloquent as angels, yet should we please some men, some women, and some children much more by listening than by talking.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 13 (1820)
(Source)
Conversation is but carving;
Carve for all, yourself is starving:
Give no more to every Guest,
Than he’s able to digest;
Give him always of the Prime;
And but little at a Time.
Carve to all but just enough:
Let them neither starve nor stuff:
And, that you may have your Due,
Let your Neighbours carve for you.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
“An Epistle to a Lady Who Desired the Author to Write Some Verses Upon Her in the Heroic Style,” ll. 123-132 (1732)
(Source)
Often rendered with the first line ending in an exclamation point, and the second line missing.
Take care never to speak what you have not weighed and pondered beforehand; nor interject your own words on the spur of the moment and in the midst of another’s; for you must listen and converse in turn, with set times for speech and for silence.
Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 150 - c. 215 ) Christian theologian, philosopher, Church Father [Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Titus Flavius Clemens]
“To the Newly Baptized / Exhortation to Endurance” [tr. Butterworth]
(Source)
It must be remembered also that he who can talk with himself has no need of another’s conversation.
[Etinim, qui secum loqui poterit, sermonem alterius non requiret.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 5, ch. 40 (5.40) / sec. 117 (45 BC) [tr. Peabody (1886)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:For he that can speak with himself; will not much need the Discourse of another.
[tr. Wase (1643)]Whoever can converse with himself doth not need the conversation of another.
[tr. Main (1824)]For the man who can speak with himself, does not require the discourse of another.
[tr. Otis (1839)]Whoever can converse with himself doth not need the conversation of another.
[tr. Yonge (1853)]One who can converse with himself will not miss the conversation of someone else.
[tr. Douglas (1990)]He who can talk to himself, will have no need of another’s conversation.
[tr. @sentantiq (2012)]A man who is able to hold conversation with himself will not need another with whom to converse.
[tr. Davie (2017)]
There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all. We speak; we spread round us with sounds, with words, an emanation from ourselves. Sometimes they overlap the circles that others are spreading round themselves. Then they are affected by these other circles, to be sure, but not because of any real communication that has taken place — merely as a scarf of blue chiffon lying on a woman’s dressing table will change color if she casts down on it a scarf of red chiffon.
Rebecca West (1892-1983) British author, journalist, literary critic, travel writer [pseud. for Cicily Isabel Fairfield]
“There Is No Conversation,” The Saturday Evening Post (1928-12-08)
(Source)
In the initial magazine appearance, the third sentence read, "There are interesting monologues." When reprinted in The Harsh Voice: Four Short Novels (1935), and subsequently, interesting was replaced with intersecting.
More discussion about this quotation: There Is No Such Thing as Conversation. It Is an Illusion. There Are Intersecting Monologues, That Is All – Quote Investigator®.
That’s what history is. It’s a conversation between the past and the present.
Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935) American writer and editor
“The Art of Editing No. 4,” The Paris Review (Summer 2019)
(Source)
“Ack!” I said. Fearless master of the witty dialogue, that’s me.
Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes (2010)
The single most dangerous thing you can do in politics is shut off information from people who don’t agree with you. Surround yourself with sycophants, listen only to the yea-sayers … then stick a fork in it, you’re done.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
“Election Denial” (3 Apr. 2001)
Let us make a special effort to learn to stop communicating with each other, so that we can have some conversation.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1979-09-01)
Reprinted in Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 3 "Basic Civilization," "Social Intercourse" (1983).
Sometimes misattributed to Mark Twain. Often paraphrased (e.g., "Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation").
More discussion of this quotation: Let Us Make a Special Effort to Stop Communicating with Each Other, So We Can Have Some Conversation – Quote Investigator®
