the man who never says a foolish thing in conversation will never say a wise one
b6054399144has quoted2 years ago
Where there is much intellectual activity discussion is sure to arise, for the simple reason that people will not think alike.
b6054399144has quoted2 years ago
There is no greater bore in society than the person who agrees with everybody. Discussion is the arena in which we measure the strength of one another's minds and run a friendly tilt in pleasing self-assertiveness
b6054399144has quoted2 years ago
"Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul in peace," it is true; but he also keeps himself dead to all human intercourse and as colorless in the world as an oyster.
b6054399144has quoted2 years ago
I have been inclined to think otherwise," "I should be pleased to hear your reasons," "Aren't you mistaken?" are more acceptable phrases with which to introduce dissent.
b6054399144has quoted2 years ago
Rousseau's description of Parisian conversation; and some one else has declared
b6054399144has quoted2 years ago
It is curious to note," says an editorial in The Spectator, "how very much dialog there is in the world, and how little true conversation; how very little, that is, of the genuine attempt to compare the different bearing of the
b0074471629has quoted2 years ago
Good conversation is more easily defined by what it is not than by what it is.
b0074471629has quoted2 years ago
Conversation, above all, is dialog, not monolog. It is a partnership, not an individual affair.