Listening Quotes

...one can speak with the utmost clearness, and yet not be heard by anyone.

We should never pretend to know what we don't know, we should not feel ashamed to ask and learn from people below, and we should listen carefully to the views of the cadres at the lowest levels. Be a pupil before you become a teacher; learn from the cadres at the lower levels before you issue orders.

Inexperienced leaders are quick to lead before knowing anything about the people they intend to lead. But mature leaders listen, learn and then lead.

Becoming a good listener, you are able to connect with others on more levels and develop stronger, deeper relationships.

I am a patient listener, but opinionated to the point of stubbornness when my mind is made up.

All can hear, but only the sensitive can understand.

Most people don't know how to listen because the major part of their attention is taken up by thinking. They pay more attention to that than to what the other person is saying, and none at all to what really matters: the Being of the other person underneath the words and the mind. Of course, you cannot feel someone else's Being except through your own. This is the beginning of the realization of oneness, which is love. At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is.

To look at life without words is not to lose the ability to form words- to think, remember, and plan. To be silent is not to lose your tongue. On the contrary, it is only through silence that one can discover something new to talk about. One who talked incessantly, without stopping to look and listen, would repeat himself ad nauseam. It is the same with thinking, which is really silent talking. It is not, by itself, open to the discovery of anything new, for its only novelties are simply arrangements of old words and ideas.

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.

True listening is another way of bringing stillness into the relationship. When you truly listen to someone, the dimension of stillness arises and becomes an essential part of the relationship. But true listening is a rare skill. Usually, the greater part of a person's attention is taken up by their thinking. At best, they may be evaluating your words or preparing the next thing to say. Or they may not be listening at all, lost in their own thoughts.

If you want to become a better listener, however you need to learn to direct that energy and attention positively by concentrating on the person you're with.

Don’t blow your own horn, or you might just miss the music.

Speak but little, and that little only when thy own purposes require it. Heaven has given thee two ears but only one tongue, which means: listen to two things, but be not the first to propose one.

It is given to few persons to keep this secret well. Those who lay down rules too often break them, and the safest we are able to give is to listen much, to speak little, and to say nothing that that will ever give ground or regret.

Now I will do nothing but listen to accrue what I hear into this song. To let sounds contribute toward it. I hear the sound I love. The sound of the human voice. I hear all sounds running together.

Though we have two eyes, we are supplied with but one tongue. Draw your own moral.

There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.

It seemed rather incongruous that in a society of super sophisticated communication, we often suffer from a shortage of listeners.

The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night, Ya-honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation: The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listen closer, I find its purpose and place up there toward the November sky.

I never give advice unless someone asks me for it. One thing I've learned, and possibly the only advice I have to give, is to not be that person giving out unsolicited advice based on your own personal experience.

Listen much, keep silent when in doubt, and always take heed of the tongue; thou wilt make few mistakes. See much, beware of pitfalls, and always give heed to thy walk; thou wilt have little to rue. If thy words are seldom wrong, thy deeds leave little to rue, pay will follow.

I have always tried to do my job in a way that I have people give me different points of view.

Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself. Stop looking in the other way of looking.

When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine. Why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ...Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially in politics.

The Inspiration You SeekIs Already Within You.Be Silent And Listen.

Since in order to speak, one must first listen, learn to speak by listening.

Hear the other side.

The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear.

To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an easy and direct way of becoming present. Even if there is noise, there is always some silence underneath and in between the sounds. Listening to the silence immediately creates stillness inside you.

Of all bad listeners, the worst and most terrible to encounter is the man who is so fond of listening that he wishes to hear, not only your conversation, but that of every other person in the room.

The sheer act of listening speaks volumes that even a great speech can't communicate.

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

It is very important to remember what other people tell you, not so much what you yourself already know.

Nobody listens anymore. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me, I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough it'll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read.

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

I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.

Most people never listen.

To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, “I am listening to this music,” you are not listening.

They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you on the knuckles.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

He who listens to truth is not less than he who utters truth.

The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.

It is the man who does not want to express an opinion whose opinion I want.

Happy is the hearing man; unhappy the speaking man.

To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.

Silenceis an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walkinto the language-river. Listen to the ocean,and bring your talky business to an end.Traditional words are just babblingin that presence, and babbling is a substitutefor sight.

When I was 8 years old I became a mute and was a mute until I was 13, and I thought of my whole body as an ear, so I can go into a crowd and sit still and absorb all sound. That talent or ability has lasted and served me until today.

Language. I loved it. And for a long time I would think of myself, of my whole body, as an ear.

Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own.

Watchin' and listenin' is the thing at present; not talking.

When you speak to a man, look on his eyes; when he speaks to you, look on his mouth.

I learned to have the patience to listen when people put forward their views, even if I think those views are wrong. You can't reach a just decision in a dispute unless you listen to both sides.

As a leader... I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the axiom; a leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.

Music never stops; it is only the listening that is intermittent.

How Do I Listen to others? As if everyone were my Master Speaking to me His Cherished Last Words.

True listening is another way of bringing stillness into the relationship. When you truly listen to someone, the dimension of stillness arises and becomes an essential part of the relationship.

The way that I teach now is just by listening. I listen a lot.

What most people really want is to be listened to, respected, and understood.

Listen now. When people talk listen completely. Don't be thinking what you're going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe.