Quotations about:
    listening


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The art of conversation, or the qualification for a good companion, is a certain self-control, which now holds the subject, now lets it go, with a respect for the emergencies of the moment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1854)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820–1872, Vol. 3 (1912).
 
Added on 21-Jul-23 | Last updated 21-Jul-23
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He listens well
Who takes notes.

[Bene ascolta chi la nota.]

Dante Alighieri the poet
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 15, l. 99ff (15.99) (1309) [tr. James (2013)]
    (Source)

Virgil either warning Dante to consider all the predictions / warnings he's receiving from the damned about "future" political troubles, or else praising him for appearing to have remembered them (interpretations vary).

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

He listens well, who what he hears remarks.
[tr. Rogers (1782), l. 96]

"Unhappy is the man," exclaim'd my Guide,
"From whose weak mind the words of wisdom glide."
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 18]

He listens to good purpose who takes note.
[tr. Cary (1814)]

Well doth he hear, who marks what he hath heard.
[tr. Dayman (1843)]

He listens well who notes it.
[tr. Carlyle (1849)]

He listens well who notes.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

He listens well who noteth well.
[tr. Johnston (1867)]

He listeneth well who noteth it.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

Well listens he who marks it.
[tr. Butler (1885)]

Who noteth well, he well doth hear.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]

He listens well who notes it.
[tr. Norton (1892)]

He listeneth well that layeth it to heart.
[tr. Sullivan (1893)]

He listens well who notes the matter.
[tr. Griffith (1908)]

He is a good listener who takes note.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

He listens well who noteth well the word.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]

Well-heeded is well-heard.
[tr. Sayers (1949)]

Well heeded is well heard.
[tr. Ciardi (1954)]

He who notes it listens well.
[tr. Singleton (1970)]

He listens well who notes well what he hears.
[tr. Musa (1971)]

He who takes note of this has listened well.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1980)]

Those are the words of a good listener!
[tr. Sisson (1981)]

He who has listened well will understand.
[tr. Pinsky (1994)]

He listens well who takes note.
[tr. Durling (1996)]

He listens closely, who notes it.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

"Those listen well," he said, "who take good note."
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2006)]

He listens well who takes in what he hears.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

It's good
To hear such words, for they are truly profound.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]

 
Added on 28-Apr-23 | Last updated 22-Mar-24
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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 Alexandrin
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)
 
Added on 13-May-22 | Last updated 1-Jun-22
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To be kind is more important than to be right. Many times, what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) American writer [Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald]
(Attributed)

No actual citation found. Also often attributed (also without citation) to Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
 
Added on 21-Apr-22 | Last updated 1-Jun-22
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Nobody really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you’ll see why.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1966)
    (Source)
 
Added on 20-Jan-22 | Last updated 10-Mar-22
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Women are good listeners, but it’s a waste of time telling your troubles to a man unless there is something specific you want him to do.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)
    (Source)
 
Added on 18-Nov-21 | Last updated 10-Mar-22
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To a talkative fellow, who poured out a torrent of words and then said, “Let’s hope I haven’t been boring you with my chatter!” he replied, “No, by Zeus, I haven’t been listening.”

[πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα ἀδολέσχην, ἐπειδὴ αὐτοῦ πολλὰ κατήντλησε, “μήτι σου κατεφλυάρησα;” “μὰ Δί᾽,” εἶπεν: “οὐ γάρ σοι προσεῖχον.]

Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Attributed in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers [Vitae Philosophorum], Book 5, sec. 11 [tr. Mensch (2018)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

A chattering fellow, who had been abusing him, said to him, “Have not I been jeering you properly?” “Not that I know of,” said he, “for I have not been listening to you.”
[tr. Yonge (1853)]

To the chatterbox who poured out a flood of talk upon him and then inquired, "Have I bored you to death with my chatter?" he replied, "No, indeed; for I was not attending to you."
[tr. Hicks (1925), sec. 20]

To the man talking endlessly when he assailed him with words and asked “Have I worn you out with nonsense”, he said “By Zeus, no! I wasn’t listening to you.”
[tr. @sentantiq (2016)]

 
Added on 14-Sep-21 | Last updated 14-Sep-21
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Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.

André Gide (1869-1951) French author, Nobel laureate
Treatise on Narcissus [Le Traité du Narcisse] (1891)
 
Added on 10-Aug-21 | Last updated 10-Aug-21
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Not listening is probably the commonest unkindness of married life, and one that creates — more devastatingly than an eternity of forgotten birthdays and misguided Christmas gifts — an atmosphere of not loving and not caring.

Judith Viorst (b. 1931) American writer, journalist, psychoanalysis researcher
Yes, Married (1972)
 
Added on 27-Jan-21 | Last updated 27-Jan-21
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A friend is someone who listens to your bullshit, tells you that it is bullshit, and listens some more.

Robin Williams (1951-2014) American comedian and actor
(Attributed)
 
Added on 7-Dec-20 | Last updated 7-Dec-20
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I have accustomed myself to receive with respect the opinions of others, but always take the responsibility of deciding for myself.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) American politician, general, US President (1829-1837)
(Attributed)

Quoted by John F. Kennedy in the foreword to T. Sorensen, Decision-Making in the White House: The Olive Branch or the Arrows (1963)
 
Added on 13-Nov-18 | Last updated 13-Nov-18
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Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia (1925-1998) American psychologist, writer
Born For Love: Reflections on Loving (1992)
 
Added on 12-Apr-16 | Last updated 12-Apr-16
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You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
    (Source)

Sometimes given as "You ain't learning anything when you're talking."

Reported, not as a quote, but as a sign on his wall while a US Senator, in Leslie Carpenter, "A Man of Complexity," Boston Herald (1963-12-01), read into the Congressional Record, House of Representatives (1963-12-03) by House Speaker John W. McCormack (D-RI).
 
Added on 22-May-13 | Last updated 4-Aug-23
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BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Bore,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
    (Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 8-Aug-23
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As a matter of fact, have you never noticed that most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness?

Margaret Millar (1915-1994) American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer
The Weak-Eyed Bat (1942)
    (Source)

Often misattributed to Mark Twain, usually as "Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses."

More information on this quote's origins: Most Conversations Are Simply Monologues Delivered in the Presence of a Witness – Quote Investigator®
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 4-Aug-23
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Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

Baldwin - Children have never been very good at listening to their elders but they have never failed to imitate them - wist.info quote

James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
“Fifth Avenue, Uptown,” Esquire (1960-07)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Nobody Knows My Name (1961). This is sometimes mis-cited to "The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman," Esquire (1960-04), which is also reprinted there.
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Nov-23
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Let us be silent, — so we may hear the whisper of the gods.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Friendship,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Sometimes misquoted as "whispers of the gods."
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 25-Feb-22
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