Deborah Tannen Quotes

I always felt it was necessary to keep up some kind of communication with other people.

All my life I have dealt with objective matters; hence I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to carry out official functions.

I'm hopeless at small talk and have a problem making eye contact.

Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

I love somebody that can hold a great conversation.

I think there's a worry that an excessive use or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community.

Learning in a face-to-face human community, as humans have evolved to do over hundreds of thousands of years, may always be the ideal - especially in an endeavor that is as relationship-driven as business.

I'm much less shy in conversation than I am on my own.

I believe you learn social skills by mixing with people.

Human interaction in a complex environment is key to our [military] success in the future.

Viewers can't work or play while watching television; they can't read; they can't be out on the streets, falling in love with the wrong people, learning how to quarrel and compromise with other human beings. In short, they are asocial.

Being polite, being respectful, having manners, and being a socialite - they're key life skills that people take for granted. Being able to communicate with all people on all levels is what's got me so far.

Watch people and how they handle other people. You have to stay open and keep your eyes open to them.

People love to talk but hate to listen.

I've lived my life dealing with everybody. And that's how it's always been for me.

The best way to know people is to work with them.

I like being around people who are good conversationalists.

I spend most of my life just listening to people.

I envy people who have the capacity to sit with another human being and find them endlessly interesting, I would rather watch TV. Of course this becomes eventually known to the other person.

What happens when two people talk? That is really the basic question here, because, that's the basic context in which all persuasion takes place.

LADY STUTFIELD I adore silent men. MRS ALLONBY Oh, Ernest isn't silent. He talks the whole time. But he has got no conversation. What he talks about I don't know. I haven't listened to him for years.

Perhaps the best conversationalist in the world is the man who helps others to talk.

I feel very open with people, and I'm good at disarming them and having conversations.

I've learned I don't like being around people too much. It's hard to stand around and make conversation with people I've learned. But I do want to be the guy that can do it easily.

I am worried that the next generation will not be able to have a real conversation.