Conversation Quotes - Page 18

• Since nothing appears to me to give Children so much becoming Confidence and Behavior, and so raise them to the conversation of those above their Age, as Dancing. I think they should be taught to dance as soon as they are capable of learning it.

  John Locke

  Children, Thinking, Giving

  John Locke, Ruth Weissbourd Grant, Nathan Tarcov (1996). “Some Thoughts Concerning Education: And, Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, Hackett Publishing

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• People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.

  Adam Smith

  Law, Justice, People

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 10 (1776)

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• The enthusiasm geologists show for adding new words to their conversation is, if anything, exceeded by their affection for the old. They are not about to drop 'granite.' They say 'granodiorite' when they are in church and 'granite' the rest of the week.

  John McPhee

  Church, Enthusiasm, Affection

  John McPhee (2000). “Annals of the Former World”, p.22, Macmillan

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• The serious reader in the age of technology is a rebel by definition: a protester without a placard, a Luddite without hammer or bludgeon. She reads on planes to picket the antiseptic nature of modern travel, on commuter trains to insist on individualism in the midst of the herd, in hotel rooms to boycott the circumstances that separate her from her usual sources of comfort and stimulation, during office breaks to escape from the banal conversation of office mates, and at home to revolt against the pervasive and mind-deadening irrelevance of television.

  Eric Burns

  Home, Technology, Irrelevance

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• In their presence, there's no need for continuous conversation, but you find you're quite content in just having them nearby.

  Bob Marley

  Love, Needs, Reggae

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• In fact, the more each person can remove his or her ego from the discussion and focus on the subject matter, the more fruitful the conversation will be for all involved.

  Matthew Kelly

  Focus, Ego, Matter

  Matthew Kelly (2005). “The Seven Levels of Intimacy: The Art of Loving and the Joy of Being Loved”, p.157, Simon and Schuster

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• To meet at all, one must open ones eyes to another; and there is no true conversation no matter how many words are spoken, unless the eye, unveiled and listening, opens itself to the other.

  Jessamyn West

  Inspirational, Eye, Listening

  Jessamyn West (1959). “Love is not what you think”

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• We have all of us free access to all that is great, and good, and happy, and carry within ourselves a key to all the treasures that heaven has to bestow upon us. We starve in the midst of plenty, groan under infirmities, with the remedy in our own hand; live and die without knowing and feeling anything of the One only God, whilst we have it in our power to know and enjoy it in as great a reality as we know and feel the power of this world over us; for Heaven is as near to our souls as this world is to our bodies; and we are created, we are redeemed, to have our conversation in it.

  William Law

  God, Reality, Keys

  William Law (1836). “Extracts from The spirit of prayer”, p.2

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• All I'm arguing for really is that we should have a conversation where the best ideas really thrive, where there's no taboo against criticizing bad ideas, and where everyone who shows up, in order to get their ideas entertained, has to meet some obvious burdens of intellectual rigor and self-criticism and honesty-and when people fail to do that, we are free to stop listening to them. What religion has had up until this moment is a different set of rules that apply only to it, which is you have to respect my religious certainty even though I'm telling you I arrived at it irrationally.

  Sam Harris

  Religious, Honesty, Self

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• WANT shows up in conversation - EXPECTATION shows up in behavior.

  Les Brown

  Expectations, Want, Behavior

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• Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good; but then, they are only good at times and occasions, in a certain degree, and must be used and governed with such caution as we eat and drink and refresh ourselves, or they will bring forth in us the fruits of intemperance.

  William Law

  Christian, Religious, Reading

  William Law (1802). “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life: Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians, to which is Added Some Account of the Author and Three Letters to a Friend”, p.27

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• Major Greene this evening fell into some conversation with me about the Divinity and satisfaction of Jesus Christ. All the argument he advanced was, "that a mere creature or finite being could not make satisfaction to infinite justice for any crimes," and that "these things are very mysterious." Thus mystery is made a convenient cover for absurdity.

  John Adams

  Wisdom, Jesus, Justice

  John Adams (1961). “Diary and Autobiography of John Adams: Diary, 1755-1770”, Belknap Pr

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• You can start over again! Don't even think about quitting now! It is easy to replay in your mind how things did not work, how much you lost, what you are going through, how angry you are. There is no amount of conversation or magic that is going to wipe the slate clean. You are wasting valuable time and energy that could be used to regain a new normal and start another version of your life. Even though you are hurt and you may be feeling down — stop kicking yourself! Face what has happened. Make the decision to start over again.

  Les Brown

  Hurt, Thinking, New Normal

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• When I'm writing, my neural pathways get blocked. I can't read. I can barely hold a conversation without forgetting words and names. I wish I could wear the same clothes and eat the same food each day.

  Kate Atkinson

  Writing, Names, Clothes

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• Mr. Adams, describing a conversation with Jonathan Sewall in 1774, says: "I answered that the die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon. Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination."

  John Adams

  Country, Determination, Swim

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• But stories somehow lengthen when begun.

  Lord Byron

  Stories

  Lord Byron (2013). “Byron: Selected Poetry and Prose”, p.352, Routledge

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• 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.

  Richard Steele

  Fall, Men, Secret

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1826). “The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index”, p.64

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• It is an impertinent and unreasonable fault in conversation for one man to take up all the discourse.

  Richard Steele

  Men, Faults, Discourse

  Joseph Addison, Richard Steele (1854). “The Spectator”, p.321

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• Conversation never sits easier upon us than when we now and then discharge ourselves in a symphony of laughter, which may not improperly be called the chorus of conversation.

  Richard Steele

  Laughter, Symphony, May

  Sir Richard Steele, Joseph Addison (1822). “The Guardian”, p.116

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• There is a person whose acquaintance and conversation I do earnestly recommend unto you as thing of the greatest advantage: you will be surprised when I tell you it is yourself.

  David Berman

  Self, Advantage, Acquaintance

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• For mankind, speech with a capital S is especially meaningful and committing, more than the content communicated. The outcry of the newborn and the sound of the bells are fraught with mystery more than the baby's woeful face or the venerable tower.

  Paul Goodman

  Meaningful, Baby, Sound

  Paul Goodman (1966). “Five years”

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• The world is waiting for you to wake up to the person you are called to be. Stop listening to the negative inner conversation that's causing you to play small. Focus your mind on positive thoughts, possibilities and solutions that can move you forward. Tap into your creativity and determination and stay busy. Stay focused.

  Les Brown

  Motivational, Encouragement, Determination

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• I never, with important air, In conversation overbear. . . . . My tongue within my lips I rein; For who talks much must talk in vain.

  John Gay

  Air, Important, Tongue

  John Gay (1808). “Gay's Fables: In One Volume Complete”, p.8

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• A dearth of words a woman need not fear; But 'tis a task indeed to learn to hear: In that the skill of conversation lies; That shows and makes you both polite and wise.

  Edward Young

  Wise, Lying, Skills

  John Milton, Edward Young, Thomas Gray, James Beattie, William Collins (1836). “The Poetical Works of Milton, Young, Gray, Beattie, and Collins”

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• Ideas matter in New York. I am certain that more conversations in New York are about ideas than anywhere else. Not just vague theories, but ideas that New Yorkers have the will, and the clout, to do something about.

  David Frost

  New York, Ideas, Matter

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