The Saturday Writing Quote — on listening

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“Few people . . . have had much training in listening. The training of most oververbalized professional intellectuals is in the opposite direction. Living in a competitive culture, most of us are most of the time chiefly concerned with getting our own views across, and we tend to find other people’s speeches a tedious interruption of the flow of our own ideas.”

— S.I. Hayakawa, Symbol, Status, and Personality 32 (1963) (via Bryan Garner, author of Garner’s Modern American Usage, in his blog)

(photo: my garden, May 2014)

2 thoughts on “The Saturday Writing Quote — on listening

  1. I have friends who ask me the same questions over and over and I have been known to say — you have to listen when you ask me questions — I do tell you the answers. Very frustrating.

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