quotations about conversation
A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
Personal Recollections
A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.
TRUMAN CAPOTE
Portraits and Observations
Their conversation was brief, and their desire was to be silent.
JUVENAL
Satires
British conversation is like a game of cricket or a boxing match; personal allusions are forbidden like hitting below the belt, and anyone who loses his temper is disqualified.
ANDRÉ MAUROIS
The Art of Living
A conversation is like having a catch with someone. A good partner tosses the ball directly into your glove, making it almost impossible for you to miss it; when he is on the receiving end, he catches everything sent his way, even the most errant and incompetent throws.
PAUL AUSTER
Moon Palace
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.
ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH
Gift from the Sea
CONVERSATION, n. A fair to the display of the minor mental commodities, each exhibitor being too intent upon the arrangement of his own wares to observe those of his neighbor.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
In the best conversations, you don't even remember what you talked about, only how it felt. It felt like we were in some place your body can't visit, some place with no ceiling and no walls and no floor and no instruments.
JOHN GREEN
Turtle All the Way Down
Do you know that conversation is one of the greatest pleasures in life? But it wants leisure.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
The Trembling of a Leaf
How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation?
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume 10
What I need from you babe
Is good conversation
To put my mind at ease
BOYZONE
"Good Conversation"
Talk to me
You never
Talk to me
Do we suffer
From
Social atrophy
And when the conversation's over
When the conversation's over
We've taken what's been given
And we throw it all away
STAIND
"Nothing Left to Say"
The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Selected Essays
There is something hugely civilised about allowing long pauses in a conversation. Very few people can stand that kind of silence.
JAMES ROBERTSON
And the Land Lay Still