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.

…I only told you about it because I thought I might get a laugh out of you for once even if it wasn’t the truth, Jessie. Things don’t have to be true to talk about...

I wanted to listen to him, but I did not want to answer now. That strange responsibility we feel towards others when they speak, to offer them the solace of any answer. Poor humans! And...

Whenever Percy stopped by to see [Annabeth], she was so lost in thought that the conversation went something like this:Percy: ‘Hey, how’s it going?’Annabeth: ‘Uh, no thanks.’Percy: ‘Okay…have you eaten anything today?’Annabeth: ‘I think Leo...

More of your conversation would infect my brain.

I don’t know where we’d be without him. That’s not conversation. That’s a fact. He has that kind of impact on the people around him.

If you chose Option 2 [confrontation], you did well. People will be less likely to engage you in office small talk of any kind, but that’s likely a benefit when you consider the fact that...

When you talk to a sympathetic mind about technology, gender, age, and experience disappear completely, and soon you’re one-on-one with the topic at hand.

If body language is 90% of a conversation, then obviously what’s being said is only half as important as what’s not being said. And what are you saying? I can’t hear you when my back...

Turn the fan off when I’m talking. It not only makes my words colder, but it distorts and dilutes what I’m saying.

Get a watermelon, draw a face on it, and talk to it before making love to it.

But before she tells you anything.” I glared at him suspiciously.”your seed…”Tsaeb winced.”What the hell are you talking about?””your…well, your seed. You know, you have to knock her up.

Want to play hangman? asks Theophile, and I ache to tell him that I have enough on my plate playing quadriplegic. But my communication system disqualifies repartee: the keenest rapier grows dull and falls flat...

He disliked contradiction, and still more, arguments that were continually skipping from one thing to another, introducing new and disconnected points, so that there was no knowing to which to reply.

Words were few and failing between them as though the silence that sat with them had laid its old lips on theirs and sucked them dry of speech. For where could one begin? With the...

Berg paid his way with stories.

The people who ask questions decide the quality of their conversation.

Sometimes when it looks like I’m deep in thought I’m just trying not to have a conversation with people.

CONVERSATION is the vehicle for change.

He was like a man who had served a term in prison or had been to Harvard College or had left for a long time with foreigners in South America. He was like a person...

How often have I noticed or, indeed, listened to him? We talk, but do I actually listen, or is our conversation mainly a question of my waiting for him to stop and for it to...

We men are fascinated by the things we don’t really understand. It gives us something to think and talk about: like females, they drive us nuts.

He had never imagined so clearly the consequences of mailing a letter–the impossibility of retrieving it from the iron mouth of the box; the inevitability if its steady progress through the postal system; the passing...

I remember my first cell phone number still. I may call it and ask to speak to myself from eight years ago. If they say I have the wrong number I’ll tell them, No, right...

It’s not polite to talk with your mouth full of food.