Interaction Patterns Quotes

Whomever speaks first gives up some power.

That's how it is: some people are content to wait till you ask, while others jump right in with the whole story.

In the intercourse of life, we please more by our faults than by our good qualities.

Culture exists and evolves to relegate to habit categories of interactions the constant conscious reference to which would make human interaction impossible.

Women tell stories; men want answers. Guys get impatient when we drone on forever; we get frustrated when they tune out.

Every gathering has its moment. As an adult, I distract myself by trying to identify it, dreading the inevitable downswing that is sure to follow. The guests will repeat themselves one too many times, or you'll run out of dope or liquor and realize that it was all you ever had in common.

Conversation is a game of circles.

When persons are present to one another they can function not merely as physical instruments but also as communicative ones. This possibility, no less than the physical one, is fateful for everyone concerned and in every society appears to come under strict normative regulation, giving rise to a kind of communication traffic order.

I used to make my living by understanding people. And the way I learned to understand them was by observing them. I would sit in a train station or a bus station or a restaurant. And I would watch people. I would watch how they related to one another. I would try to get some insight into them and make them as predictable as I could in my mind.

OkCupid has users from 18 to 80 on the site. And we get to observe all of their actions. We get to watch how they use the site, how they interact with other people.

Wherever conversation's flowing, / Why must I feel it falls on me / To keep things going?