Isak Dinesen Quotes

In my opinion, the most fruitful and natural play of the mind is conversation. I find it sweeter than any other action in life; and if I were forced to choose, I think I would rather lose my sight than my hearing and voice. The study of books is a drowsy and feeble exercise which does not warm you up.

The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.

We do not learn first what to talk about and then what to say about it.

I do do a lot of talking, because it saves me listening.

Each person's life is lived as a series of conversations.

I love talking to people and finding out their opinion.

I like to talk. I admit it.

I feel that we Germans are spending less and less time talking to each other. And even less time listening to each other.

I enjoy it. I don't run from it. I like talking to people.

Conversation: The slowest form of human communication.

People don't like silence, so they'll keep talking to fill the void.

One must talk. That's how it is. One must.

Language exists only when it is listened to as well as spoken. The hearer is an indispensable partner.

What happens when two people talk? That is really the basic question here, because, that's the basic context in which all persuasion takes place.

There are prating coxcombs in the world who would rather talk than listen, although Shakespeare himself were the orator, and human nature the theme!

Talk is a pure art. Its only limits are the patience of listeners who, when they get tired, can always pay for their coffee or change it with a friendly waiter and walk out.

In a conversation, keep in mind that you're more interested in what you have to say than anyone else is.

The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.

Conversation is a beautiful thing. When I was a younger guy, just wandering around talking to people was what kept me connected to the world.

Conversation succeeds conversation, Until there's nothing left to talk about Except truth, the perennial monologue, And no talker to dispute it but itself.

If the word is not dead when it reaches the hearer, he murders it at once by a contradiction, a stipulation, a condition, a digression, an interruption, and all the thousand tricks of conversation.

It's a strange thing, to be talked about instead of talked to.

Many people talk much, and then very many people talk very much more.

Man has long found solace in good talk to offset bad conduct.

Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this.