I particularly value conversations which are meetings on the borderline of what I understand and what I don’t, with people who are different from myself.

This is a very friendly town. Every visit, every conversation I’ve had since applying for the position has made me feel like this is absolutely the right decision.

It’s far more important why is being said, than what.

The true mark of English conversation is not being able to tell when you’ve been insulted. I think the more sophisticated society becomes, the more it hides behind the masks it manufactures.

It’s the same with cell phones. I never answer them up to my ear. I always put it on speakerphone and hold it six to eight inches away from my brain. Here’s an example of...

Conversation should be like juggling; up go the balls and plates, up and over, in and out, good solid objects that glitter in the footlights and fall with a bang if you miss them.

Stephen Tennant is the most sparkling talker who ever comes to my house, and perhaps the most amusing. He dances like the will-o’-the-wisp where other people stick in the mud. Though his really kindred spirits...

Tony Blair — perhaps I shouldn’t repeat this conversation — told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week. And he turned on the BBC world service to see what was happening in New...

Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speak by something outside himself-like, for instance, he can’t find any clean socks.

Good conversation is the equivalent of shared emotion.

Huh?” I say.

to enhance the conversation with the governor.

It’s all right to hold a conversation, but you should let go of it now and then.

In conversation the game is, to say something new with old words. And you shall observe a man of the people picking his way along, step by step, using every time an old boulder, yet...

Conversation is so overrated.

Whenever I saw her, I felt like I had been living in another country, doing moderately well in another language, and then she showed up speaking English and suddenly I could speak with all the...

Most people are much better at saying things in letters than in conversation, and some people can write artistic, inventive letters, but when they try a poem or story or novel they become pretentious.

Heaven, envious of our joys, is waxen pale; And when we whisper, then the stars fall down To be partakers of our honey talk.(Dido, Queen of Carthage 4.4.52-54)

Be a good listener. With rapt attention, let every communication or conversation you have with your mentor, friends or even strangers be well understood.

I network like a Spanish Inquisitor. I am very good at extracting relevant information. And if you resist, you’ll only confirm your heresy.

During conversation, I have no problem making eye contact—with myself in the mirror. Or with my clone, if he’s not rolling his eyes because he knows what I’m going to say.

After I speak, my words merge with the wind, and if you’re listening, your ears act like sails and carry the conversation.

The fun of talk is to explore, but much of it and all that is irresponsible should not be written. Once written you have to stand by it. You may have said it to see...

Most bad,” the host concluded. “If you ask me, something sinister lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and dinnertime conversation. Such people are either gravely ill or secretly detest...

Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.

It was mortifying to find how strong the habit of idle speech may become in one’s self. One need not always be saying something in this noisy world.

In order to be company he must display a certain mental activity. But it need not be of a high order. Indeed it might be argued the lower the better. Up to a point. The...

With some people there is easy conversation and not enough time in one meal to get out everything you want to tell her–all the things you didn’t know you’d been holding in until you’re suddenly...

Manners are the ability to put someone else at their ease…by turning any answer into another question.

Is it that they think it a duty to be continually talking,’ pursued she: ‘and so never pause to think, but fill up with aimless trifles and vain repetitions when subjects of real interest fail...

De conversatie wordt soms pas echt levendig en hartelijk als de gasten weer op de gang staan om hun jas aan te trekken.

The easiest and most important thing a family can do is simply have a conversation about what they would do in the event of a disaster and put together a disaster kit.

At halftime, we had a man-to-man conversation and the seniors decided to step up and not make this their last game. Our defense just shut them down in the second half.

It’s no company at all, when people know nothing and say nothing,’ she muttered.

The host took care to produce one or another of these whenever the current subjects seemed about used up, so that the conversation gathered new life and at the same time steered clear of political...

Funny how nobody talks on the tubes, isn’t it? I rarely catch the tube myself, or lifts. Confined spaces, everybody shuts down. Why is that? Perhaps we think everybody on the tube is a potential...

Chester nods all the way through this, but does not rudely interrupt Randy as a younger nerd would. Your younger nerd takes offense quickly when someone near him begins to utter declarative sentences, because he...

Life seemed even more of a guessing game than usual.

Surely she had endured enough for one evening without having to listen to intelligent conversation?

Like a good Indian, he knew when to talk and when to remain silent. Like a good Indian, he knew there was never a good time to talk.

Clearly she was expected to say something, but panic at having to speak stole the thoughts from her head.

Sometimes, the silence between the two persons is better than their conversation especially when they are not of compatible ABC (Attitude, Behavior,Character).

But not on this conversation. We’ve had it. I’ve had it.

We humans always seem to take a manipulative posture. No matter what the particulars of the situation, or the subject matter, we prepare ourselves to say whatever we want in order to prevail in the...

Conversations are like dances. Two people effortlessly move in step with one another, usually anticipating the other person’s next move. If one of the dancers moves in an unexpected direction, the other typically adapts and...

At some point, one asks, “Toward what end is my life lived?” A great freedom comes from being able to answer that question. A sleeper can be decoyed out of bed by the sheer beauty...

One never said the things one wanted — one remembered them all an hour afterwards. On the other hand one usually said a lot of things one shouldn’t, simply from a sense that one had...

It’s basically the same in all periods of societies. If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things.”And those troubling things are all you /can/ think about when you’re...

The unsaid rules every conversation.

The cheapest route to a new opportunity is conversation.