Conversations Quotes

“My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people.”
― Patricia Highsmith

“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, "of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“My heart is lost; the beasts have eaten it.”
― Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal

“I hated talking, and I hated listening to everyone else stumble on their words and try to phrase things in the vaguest possible way so they wouldn’t sound dumb.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska

“Wayne's a little attached to that hat," Waxillium said. "He thinks it's lucky."
Wayne: "It is lucky. I ain't never died while wearing that hat."
Marasi frowned. "I... I'm not sure I know how to respond."
Wax: "That's a common reaction to Wayne.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law

“I read an article once that said that when women have a conversation, they're communicating on five levels. They follow the conversation that they're actually having, the conversation that is specifically being avoided, the tone being applied to the overt conversation, the buried conversation that is being covered only in subtext, and finally the other person's body language.
That is, on many levels, astounding to me. I mean, that's like having a freaking superpower. When I, and most other people with a Y chromosome, have a conversation, we're having a conversation. Singular. We're paying attention to what is being said, considering that, and replying to it. All these other conversations that have apparently been booing on for the last several thousand years? I didn't even know that they existed until I read that stupid article, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
...
So, ladies, if you ever have some conversation with your boyfriend or husband or brother or male friend, and you are telling him something perfectly obvious, and he comes away from it utterly clueless? I know it's tempting to thing to yourself, 'The man can't possibly be that stupid!'
But yes. Yes, he can.
Our innate strengths just aren't the same. We are the mighty hunters, who are good at focusing on one thing at a time. For crying out loud, we have to turn down the radio in the car if we suspect we're lost and need to figure out how to get where we're going. That's how impaired we are. I'm telling you, we have only the one conversation. Maybe some kind of relationship veteran like Michael Carpenter can do two, but that's pushing the envelope. Five simultaneous conversations? Five?
Shah. That just isn't going to happen. At least, not for me.”
― Jim Butcher, Cold Days

“The most significant conversations of our lives occur in silence.”
― Simon Van Booy, Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories

“We may sometimes witness conversations at cross purposes and see how people hold muted dialogues of the deaf. They keep talking without really recognizing what the other is trying to bring home. Why should we not more engage in discussions with animals, promising much better results? Animals often appear to be much wiser, reasonable observers, and excellent listeners. (Let us say more and speak less)-Erik Pevernagie”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Where are you?" he asked. "I'm right here" she said. "I know, but it feels like one percent of you is somewhere else, where is that one percent?" he said. "I don't know....I think I'm always like that..." she answered. "I like that." "You do?" "Yes, because that way, I have to always look for the one percent to find it.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“- ძვირფასო მეთიუ, - უთხრა იზაბელმა, - თუ საუბრისას ორი ადამიანი ერთმანეთს მუდამ ეთანხმება, მაშინ ერთ-ერთი ზედმეტია.”
― Gilbert Adair, The Dreamers

“Everybody talks, but there is no conversation.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

“Wallace would not have been as successful as he was without Ali’s support.”
― Paul Spencer Sochaczewski, "Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird": Searching for Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace's Faithful Companion

“Just as Wallace learned and evolved, Ali was on his own journey of discovery. Starting out as a 15-year-old cook, Ali learned to collect and mount specimens. He took on responsibility for organizing travel. He nursed Wallace during many bouts of fever and injury.”
― Paul Spencer Sochaczewski, "Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird": Searching for Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace's Faithful Companion

“The fatal misconception behind brainstorming is that there is a particular script we should all follow in group interactions.... [W]hen the composition of the group is right—enough people with different perspectives running into one another in unpredictable ways—the group dynamic will take care of itself. All these errant discussions add up. In fact, they may even be the most essential part of the creative process. Although such conversations will occasionally be unpleasant—not everyone is always in the mood for small talk or criticism—that doesn’t mean that they can be avoided. The most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the sparks.”
― Jonah Lehrer

“We never actually have serious conversations about anything for more than 20 seconds. So there’s a beautiful superficiality to our relationship which sometimes gets covered up by all the genuine affection flowing back and forth.”
― Kamila Shamsie, Kartography

“There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.”
― Michel de Montaigne

“They're brainless girls, otherwise they wouldn't be seen dead here. They're pretty, with ugly, appealing smiles and conversations we can't hear. They breathe smoke and blow it out, and words drop from their mouths and get crushed to the floor. Or they get discarded, just to glow with warmth for a moment, for someone else to tread on later.”
― Markus Zusak, Fighting Ruben Wolfe

“We may talk lightly but never carelessly. We keep at bay the flow of common, ignorant thought which runs its damaging course through the pathways of ordinary human conversation.”
― Donna Goddard, The Love of Devotion

“Mrs Palis­sey and I tend­ed to have the same con­ver­sa­tions over and over and slight­ly too of­ten.
”
― Dick Francis, Proof

“We have conversations with each other most nights - Sylvia Plath and me!”
― Avijeet Das

“These are icebreakers. You’re not supposed to break the ice, you’re just supposed to coat your voice with as many layers of confidence as possible so that they don’t hear your voice shake when it’s your turn to speak. Idiot.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, The Goodbye Song

“Flush lay with his eyes wide open, Listening. Though he could make no sense of the little words that hurtled over his head from two-thirty to four-thirty sometimes three times a week, he could detect with terrible accuracy that the tone of the words was changing. Miss Barrett’s voice had been forced and unnaturally lively at first. Now it had gained a warmth and an ease that he had never heard in it before. And every time the man came, some new sound came into their voices—now they made a grotesque chattering; now they skimmed over him like birds flying widely; now they cooed and clucked, as if they were two birds settled in a nest; and then Miss Barrett’s voice, rising again, went soaring and circling in the air; and then Mr. Browning’s voice barked out its sharp, harsh clapper of laughter; and then there was only a murmur, a quiet humming sound as the two voices joined together.”
― Virginia Woolf, Flush

“I thought about all of the times, growing up, when I had sat in class and heard a white classmate say," Well,myancestors didn't own slaves, "or heard a political commentator on television say," Why are we still talking about slavery? People need to get over it. "Or a politician say," We can't wallow in the past. It's time to focus on the future. "When I hear these deflections, I think of all the ways this country attempts to smother conversations about how its past has shaped its present. How slavery is made to sound as if it happened in a prehistoric age instead of only a few generations ago.”
― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

“Amidst the empty conversations and meaningless hot air jabbered by the untethered tourists and sightseers, he alone walked on with his feet stuck firmly to the ground. His slender frame anchored to a spine of steel, he was a rock against the waves of humanity.”
― Rieko Yoshihara, Ai no Kusabi Vol. 2: Destiny

“Conversations are a symphony, not a solo performance. I thrive on the rhythm of two-way talks, where ideas dance, and perspectives twirl.
Embrace the beauty of dialogue, for in its shared melody, connections flourish.”
― Huzefa Nalkheda wala

“Some of those who say they are worried about erasing history are really objecting to decisions about monuments being taken down by a small group of people, whether protesters or officials. Ideally, communities as a whole should decide, but you cannot impose this as a requirement without the existence of a real process for having these conversations. Today, what we are truly in danger of losing is not history but rather the chance to use monuments, whether fallen or still standing, as paths to get to a better future”
― Erin L. Thompson, Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments

“So many feelings between people were encoded in gesture and silence, because words fell short.”
― Mary Costello, Academy Street

“Once you’re on equal footing, it’s important to listen to and consider the other person’s point of view. Research shows that we often exaggerate how extreme our opponents are.

“Somebody says something and we all of a sudden create this whole construct about who they are as a person and what type of intention they have, and then we proceed as if that’s true,” said Julia Minson, an associate professor at Harvard Kennedy School. “That automatically sets up the adversarial environment in which someone has to lose.” She explains that it’s important to learn more about the other person’s actual intent, rather than filing it in with your own assumptions.”
― Evelyn Nam

“Throughout this conversation, it’s important to remember that you’re communicating with a real human being — a person with feelings, stories, history, trauma, heart, and the same needs as you to be heard, understood, and most importantly, respected. Kashdan said that the now-common, overused practice of labeling people as narcissists, gaslighters, and toxic can make us dehumanize other people, especially when their opinions don’t reflect our values.

That’s why it’s important to listen to others and understand their point of view. Humans have the ability to change and improve themselves. Minson highlights that when we see that potential in those we disagree with, we’re likely to engage with them more effectively. It’s important to avoid seeing people as “good” or “bad.” This will help you extend some grace and empathy to the other person.”
― Evelyn Nam

“Doris was talking about the Orwells, and J.C. was talking about his princess, and asking when the cookies would be done, and neither one was really listening to the other. That's the way all conversations, really satisfying ones, are carried on.”
― Ann Petry, The Narrows