Effective Listening Quotes

• I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Inspirational, Relationship, Peace

  196 Copy quote

• Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Motivational, Strength

  302 Copy quote

• Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.

  Doug Larson

  Inspirational, Wise, Wisdom

  230 Copy quote

• The first duty of love is to listen.

  Paul Tillich

  Love, Life, Marriage

  120 Copy quote

• Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

  Stephen Covey

  Inspirational, Life, Wise

  Stephen R. Covey (2016). “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition”, p.298, Mango Media Inc.

  51 Copy quote

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  The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Leadership, Patriotic, Voice

  Woodrow Wilson (1965). “The Political Thought of Woodrow Wilson”

  124 Copy quote

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• One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.

  Bryant H. McGill

  Inspirational, Respect, Listening To Others

  110 Copy quote

• Listening is a positive act: you have to put yourself out to do it.

  David Hockney

  Listening

  53 Copy quote

• Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking.

  Bernard Baruch

  Inspirational, Success, Talking

  22 Copy quote

• I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening.

  Larry King

  Good Morning, Good Day, Morning Inspirational

  50 Copy quote

• It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.

  Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

  Life, Positive, Wisdom

  'The Poet at the Breakfast Table' (1872) ch. 10

  49 Copy quote

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• A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while, he knows something.

  Wilson Mizner

  Relationship, Positive, Success

  Quoted in Evan Esar, The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations (1949)

  73 Copy quote

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• Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

  Jimi Hendrix

  Life, Music, Beautiful

  28 Copy quote

• Too often we underestimate the power of a touch.

  Leo Buscaglia

  Smile, Appreciation, Kindness

  "Love". Book by Leo Buscaglia, 1972.

  81 Copy quote

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• The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Funny, Humor, Empathy

  Henry David Thoreau, Nancy L. Rosenblum (1996). “Thoreau: Political Writings”, p.103, Cambridge University Press

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• The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success.

  James Cash Penney

  Art, Communication, Essentials

  24 Copy quote

• I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions.

  Lee Iacocca

  Real, Communication, People

  Lee Iacocca, William Novak (2011). “Iacocca: An Autobiography”, p.58, Bantam

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• Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn't listening.

  Emma Thompson

  Family, Communication, Big Families

  15 Copy quote

• To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well

  John Marshall

  Powerful, Communication, Mean

  55 Copy quote

• The word 'listen' contains the same letters as the word 'silent.'

  Alfred Brendel

  I Hate You, Listening Ear, Christian Inspirational

  20 Copy quote

• Bore, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Listening To Others, Bores You, Boredom

  Cynic's Word Book (1906) p. 37

  9 Copy quote

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• Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys.

  Sam Walton

  Ideas, Innovation, Clerks

  20 Copy quote

• Man's inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.

  Carl Rogers

  Men, Empathy, Inability

  81 Copy quote

• The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say. It's terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys.

  Sam Walton

  Ideas, Keys, Important

  104 Copy quote

• In some South Pacific cultures, a speaker holds a conch shell as a symbol of temporary position of authority. Leaders must understand who holds the conch-that is, who should be listened to and when.

  Max De Pree

  Listening To Others, Leader, Culture

  Max De Pree (1987). “Leadership is an Art”, Doubleday Business

  5 Copy quote

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