Michael Cunningham Quotes

During the Samuel Johnson days they had big men enjoying small talk; today we have small men enjoying big talk.

Conversation may be compared to a lyre with seven chords - philosophy, art, poetry, love, scandal, and the weather.

There are two things in ordinary conversation which ordinary people dislike - information and wit.

The written word is the basic of everything. Most important, the idea, and after that, the dialogue. You can rehash the dialogue as you go along, it 's disgraceful to have to do this, but now and again you have no choice.

Never ask a bore a question.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

Good talkers are only found in Paris.

There is nothing I hate more than meeting someone who has forgotten the art of conversing.

Every improvement in communication makes the bore more terrible.

I've never used chat-up lines; I don't have the gift of the gab.

Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the talking box?

Many times I only say yes or no and even that winds them up for twenty minutes more.

People talk to pass the time, share information, and entertain each other.

Humor disarms people. It opens them up to starting a dialogue about things they wouldn't normally talk about. I don't understand how people who don't have a sense of humor get through life.

What I love in television is when you have the banter between the presenters, that's what makes a really good programme. That's why it is so important for me to have good relationships with people I'm commentating with.

Banter is a great way of breaking the ice.

There is almost no topic that can't benefit from being talked about in a humorous way.

Rabo Karabekian: I'm in the middle of a sentence. Circe Berman: Who isn't?.

small talk comes from small bones

Old Madame du Deffand and her friends talked for fifty years without stopping. And of it all, what remains? Perhaps three witty sayings. So that we are at liberty to suppose either that nothing was said, or that nothing witty was said, or that the fraction of three witty sayings lasted eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty nights, which does not leave a liberal allowance of wit for any one of them.

Don’t play that game with me, Acheron. Tell me what I need to know! (Xypher) Nice tone. We should rent you out to record Halloween albums. (Acheron)

They talked aimlessly back and forth, each speaking for the other.

Sometimes it's things that take the joy out of life, like a blowout when you're hitting sixty or a button coming off of a shirt when you're in a hurry, but usually it's people.

Hmm?' I looked away, flustered automatically using irritation to cover my discomfort up. 'What does 'hmm' have to do with anything? Could you ever use more that five words? All this grunting and minced words make you come across-- primal.' His smile tipped higher. 'Primal.' 'You're impossible.' 'Me Jev, you Nora.' -Nora & Patch (PG 226)

Can I ask you a question?" "You already have." He paused, considering. "Can I ask you two questions, then?" "You already have.