Quotes about the Critical Skill of Listening

One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.

Wrong perceptions cannot be removed by guns and bombs. They should be removed by deep listening, compassionate listening, and loving space.

You can practice deep listening in order to relieve the suffering in us, and in the other person. That kind of listening is described as compassionate listening. You listen only for the purpose of relieving suffering in the other person.

Effective listening is something that can absolutely be learned and mastered. Even if you find attentive listening difficult and, in certain situations, boring or unpleasant, that doesn't mean you can't do it. You just have to know what to work on.

The humble listen to their brothers and sisters because they assume they have something to learn. They are open to correction, and they become wiser through it.

In today's climate, listening is so compelling because it is so rare. Give the gift of listening to the kid in your life. Put down your phone and have a real conversation. Get to know him. Look him in the eyes.

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.

No man would listen to you talk if he didn't know it was his turn next.

Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.

Let your body call you back into yourself, into your most deeply embodied self. Land, dive, soar. Find the crumbs that lead back home.

When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the nonmusician primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me.

When we genuinely want to listen, we are bound to hear, as well as be heard.

An appreciative listener is always stimulating.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

Listening is not just hearing what someone tells you word for word. You have to listen with a heart. I don't want that to sound touchy-feely; it is not. It is very hard work.

To be agreeable you must learn to be a good listener. A man who monopolizes a conversation is a bore, no matter how great his knowledge.

When you talk to yourself, at least you know that someone is listening.

It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.

It's only through listening that you learn, and I never want to stop learning.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

The best way to make a long story short is to stop listening.

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.

The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.

Lives are changed by a moment's listening to conscience, by a single and quiet inclination of the mind.

Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge. They are not the same thing. Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening.

In Africa, listening is a guiding principle. It's a principle that's been lost in the constant chatter of the Western world, where no one seems to have the time or even the desire to listen to anyone else.

Leaders can get stuck in groupthink because they're really not listening, or they're listening only to what they want to listen to, or they actually think they're so right that they're not interested in listening. And that leads to a lot of suboptimal solutions in the world.

Ultimately, the best speakers are the ones who have put 10,000 hours into listening.

The writer is always tricking the reader into listening to their dream.

You're short on ears and long on mouth.

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.

Let's use our stories to encourage listening to one another and to hear not just the good news, but also the pain that lies at the back of a lot of people's stories and histories.

I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions.

You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.

Part of doing something is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars. To the wind.

If you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening.

Listening to people keeps them entertained.

Conversely, beware the man who does nothing but ask you questions about yourself and offers no information about himself. Not only is he keeping you at bay, he is probably not listening to your answers.

Listening to other people's needs is listening to God. Noticing simple, natural beauty, hearing music, even confronting the challenge of pain and problems -- that can all be listening to God too.

Anyone who takes the time to listen is either an old soul or a romantic one.

I'd say that what we hear is the quality of our listening.

There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.

Listening is active. At its most basic level, it's about focus, paying attention.

The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand.
We listen to reply.

Good listeners, like precious gems, are to be treasured.

While the right to talk may be the beginning of freedom, the necessity of listening is what makes that right important.

One learns more from listening than speaking. And both the wind and the people who continue to live close to nature still have much to tell us which we cannot hear within university walls.

Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.

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

Listening is a positive act: you have to put yourself out to do it.

It's about listening first, then selling.

Again and again one can listen: this is my opinion, I think this or that... As if it matters, what one or the other thinks! The point is much more to what the truth is!

When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening.

As a doctor, I've learned the importance and value of listening.

The word 'listen' contains the same letters as the word 'silent'.

Listening is not merely not talking, though even that is beyond most of our powers; it means taking a vigorous, human interest in what is being told us.

There's something to be learned by listening and absorbing and watching before you start telling the people who have been there how to rearrange chairs.

Listening and being curious and wide-eyed in the world, I think, is what allows us to move forward, progress, evolve and learn and alter our behavior and become more self-aware. I think that listening is kind of what it's all about.

I like people, and I like listening to them because something that'll happen out of that conversation could be the title or the subject of the song.

Listening to something is an act of surrender.

If you want to make someone feel emotion, you have to make them let go. Listening to something is an act of surrender.

Sometimes listening is of greater value than speaking.

Just the act of listening means more than you can imagine to most employees.

Sticking to your values, listening to your instincts, making your own choices is so important.

There is nothing wrong with listening. You can listen to people; you can hear people's concerns. You can keep an open mind and still be perfectly strong.

People will feel safer around you and speak truthfully to you when they feel you are listening intently to them.

You have to master not only the art of listening to your head, you must also master listening to your heart and listening to your gut.

The essence of meditation is a period of time set aside to contemplate the Lord, listen to Him, and allow Him to permeate our spirits.

Listening is more important than anything else because that's what music is. Somebody is playing something and you're receiving it. It is sending and receiving.

Listening to others does not mean you should sound like them; find your own voice by telling stories as authentically as possible.

Storytelling is about listening in any media.

For me, masculinity is about control, and femininity is more of an embrace, the art of listening. It's very inspiring to explore the shadows of masculinity and femininity, and the tensions between both, and the place of women in the world right now.

Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.

The measure of a conversation is how much mutual recognition there is in it; how much shared there is in it. If you're talking about what's in your own head, or without thought to what people looking and listening will feel, you might as well be in a room talking to yourself.

One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears by listening to them.

The best way to persuade people is with your ears -- by listening to them.

There is as much wisdom in listening as there is in speaking -- and that goes for all relationships, not just romantic ones.

Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.

Listening is the essence of anything.

Listening to what people were saying wasn't even important. But it was important to look as if you were listening to what people were saying. Actually, listening to what people are saying, to me, interferes with looking as if you were listening to what people are saying.

Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.

It is silent, an anagram for listen.
That is what I do. Listen while she remains silent.

One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody's listening.

Authenticity is the ability to listen to what nature tells us. Listening isn't the same thing as never making a mistake, but the important thing is to learn.

Tone is often the most important part of a conversation -- and listening is so much more important than what you say.

There is something very basic to the sense of listening. The sense of hearing is the only one that operates totally from vibrations, without other physical or chemical reactions to receive the sensations.

Just because I didn't do what you told me, doesn't mean I wasn't listening to you!

One of the most important elements in teaching, conducting, and performing, all three, is listening.

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.

Without credible communication, and a lot of it, the hearts and minds of others are never captured.

The first rule of my speaking is: listen!

When you talk, you repeat what you already know; when you listen, you often learn something.

I have often heard that the outstanding man is he who thinks deeply about a problem, and the next is he who listens carefully to advice.

When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, always new questions, then it is time to die.

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.

A healthy state encourages many voices -- and lots of listening.

I think a lot of making art is listening to yourself.

Listening moves us closer, it helps us become more whole, more healthy, more holy. Not listening creates fragmentation, and fragmentation is the root of all suffering.

There are many benefits to this process of listening. The first is that good listeners are created as people feel listened to. Listening is a reciprocal process -- we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.

Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.

Reading is more of a left-brain process, and listening to music is a right-brain function.

Grace, respect, reserve, and empathetic listening are qualities sorely missing from the public discourse now.

When a man interrupts a woman in mid-sentence, it reveals much about him. First, it shows he hasn't been listening to what she is saying, and secondly, it indicates that he doesn't want to listen to what she will say. Her views are not important.

People, by and large, would rather be talking than listening.

Women like silent men. They think they're listening.

Insight into character comes from listening intently to the spoken word. The physical person, their charisma, charm and dramatic flair is more often used to persuade audiences, as they use these stealth tools of disguise and deception.

Those who still think listening isn't an art should see if they can do it half as well.

You need to listen to your body because your body is listening to you.

The thing about improvisation is that it's not about what you say. It's listening to what other people say. It's about what you hear.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

Not listening to people who care about you, not to be open or transparent, will make you isolated.

If there's one thing I've learned about women, which I try to pass on to my boys, it's listening. Listen to the other side of the story first.

Passion is listening.

You can't fake listening. It shows.

You have to do a lot of listening, you don't just learn out of yourself.

Look at the product pipeline, look at the fantastic financial results we've had for the last five years. You only get that kind of performance on the innovation side, on the financial side, if you're really listening and reacting to the best ideas of the people we have.

Trust your instincts: they tend to see you right. By listening to them, at least you can sleep at night.

The art of entrepreneurship and the science of Customer Development is not just getting out of the building and listening to prospective customers. It's understanding who to listen to and why.

John Kennedy won the first televised presidential debate among those watching it, while Richard Nixon won among those listening on the radio.

There's only one thing more boring than listening to other people's dreams, and that's listening to their problems.

There's something about the silence of people listening to someone or watching someone -- I just... I love that.

From now on, the technology companies that succeed will be those that have developed skills at listening and a sophisticated understanding of their customers' industries.

If people are not listening to you as individuals, it's always good to get together and make a stand for something.

There are ways to stimulate being prolific, and part of that is making pilgrimages, and being open to listening, changing up the routine.

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.

By listening, you acknowledge and embrace the world that is going on outside your head, which helps you sort out what's going on inside your head.

People start to heal the moment they feel heard.

I don't remember having ever learned anything while I was talking. Every single thing I've ever learned in my life, I've learned by listening or reading.

I just think there's a real art in listening. I need to listen.

I had trouble listening to adults who didn't really mean anything that they said; it was as if their language poured into my ears only to drain right out a little spigot in the back of my head.

If I bother to listen, I can navigate by failure just as much as I can navigate by success.

The practice of deep listening is the practice of open inquiry, without assumption or judgement.

No one wants to listen. They all just want to spout opinions and then get offended that you don't agree with them. Conversations only work if both parties are wiling and open to learn from each other.

To talk less and be a better listener is the lifelong quest of a good friend.

To self-righteously project without a thought of listening is a form of constant selfishness.

Humans are emotional beings. They love when they are listened to, motivated, and nurtured.

Deep listening is experiencing heightened awareness or expanded awareness of sound and of silence, of quiet, and of sounding -- making sounds.

There's more than one way to tell each other things, and there's more than one way to listen, too.

Looking at art is one way of listening to God.

A little more listening to understand, a little less trying to convince, and a lot more intellectual humility would do everyone a world of good.

Listening may not be the most exciting part of conversation, but it's essential if you want to have a meaningful exchange with another person.

There's a deep humility in listening because the focus is more on understanding the other person than on saying everything that comes into your mind.

Your silence creates a vacuum for others to fill The key is to stay present and keep listening. The silence of holding steady is different from the silence of holding back.

Listen more than you talk.

Good listening works magic... Listen intently intentionally!

Hear much; speak little.

The silence of prayer is the silence of listening.

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

What you have been taught by listening to others' words you will forget very quickly; what you have learned with your whole body you will remember for the rest of your life.

Listening is a discipline. It's all about being present at that moment in time.

The aim of talk should be like the aim of a flying arrow -- to hit the mark; but to this end there must be a mark to hit, that is, there must be a listener.

And the people listened, and their faces were quiet with listening. The story tellers, gathering attention into their tales, spoke in great rhythms, spoke in great words because the tales were great, and the listeners became great through them.

Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.

You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen -- not just money, but respect.

You listen to people so that you can imagine them, and you hear all the terrible and wonderful things people do to themselves and to one another, but in the end the listening exposes you even more than it exposes the people you're trying to listen to.

Deep listening helps us to recognize the existence of wrong perceptions in the other person and wrong perceptions in us.

May we try to listen and be silent in order to make space for the beauty of God.

There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing.

Listening doesn't mean trying to understand. Anything, however trifling, may be of use one day. What matters is to know something that others don't know you know.

Very seldom do we receive any support for trusting ourselves, listening to our own sense of inner truth, and expressing ourselves in a direct and honest way.

No, it's not a very good story -- its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside.

Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.

The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said.

A person hears only what they understand.

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

It takes a great man to be a good listener.

We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.

Bore, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.