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Quotes about talking

319 quotes from 193 people

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To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
- Freedom
However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Debate
- Truth & Lies
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason
John Milton1608–1674Paradise Lost (1667), Book IIIn context
- Truth & Lies
Those whose conduct gives room for talk
Are always the first to attack their neighbors.
Molière1622–1673Tartuffe (1664)
Against backbiting there is no defence
So let us try to live in innocence,
To silly tattle pay no heed at all,
And leave the gossips free to vent their gall.
Molière1622–1673Tartuffe (1664–1669), Act I, Scene I, spoken by CleanteIn context
- Advice
Those whose own conduct’s most ridiculous,
Are always quickest to speak ill of others;
Molière1622–1673Tartuffe (1664–1669), Act I, Scene I, spoken by DorineIn context
- Character
I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.
Michel de Montaigne1533–1592Essais (wr. 1571–92; pub. 1580–95), Book I, Ch. 26. On the Education of Children
- Quotations
There is only one rule for being a good talker⁠—learn to listen.
Christopher Morley1890–1957
- Debate
Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.
Toni Morrison1931–2019Nobel Prize Lecture (1993)
- Knowledge
All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak⁠—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart1756–1791Letter as published in The Letters of Mozart & His Family (1938) translated and edited by Emily Anderson, p. 1114.
- Courage
The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.
Edward R. Murrow1908–1965On receiving the “Family of Man” Award (1964)
- Computers
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.
Vladimir Nabokov1899–1977Strong Opinions (1973), Foreword
- Genius
- Writing
We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.
JNJames Nicollborn 1961Often credited to Booker T. Washington
In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that, you need long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are spoken, big and tall.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Part I, Chapter 7
- Quotations
- Writing
I wish I could give you a lot of advice, based on my experience of winning political debates. But I don’t have that experience. My only experience is at losing them.
Richard Nixon1913–1994
- Debate