John Owen Quotes

A good listener is very nearly as attractive as a good talker. You cannot have a beautiful mind if you do not know how to listen.

Listen twice as much as you speak.

I think pastors are the worst listeners. We're so used to speaking, teaching, giving answers. We must learn to be quiet, quit being so verbal, learn to pay attention to what's going on, and listen.

Few people...have had much training in listening. The training of most oververbalized professional intellectuals is in the opposite direction. Living in a competitive culture, most of us are most of the time chiefly concerned with getting our own views across, and we tend to find other people's speeches a tedious interruption of the flow of our own ideas.

The key ingredient in family communication is listening, really listening.

Listening is as important as talking. If you're a good listener, people often compliment you for being a good conversationalist.

I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility. (U.S. poet and writer, 1943- )

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

To become a master communicator: shut your mouth & listen first.

We should all know this: that listening, not talking, is the gifted and great role, and the imaginative role.

So often people say something and you realise you haven't really heard it.

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.

Technology is a compulsive and addictive way to live. Verbal communication cannot be lost because of a lack of skill. The ability to listen and learn is key to mastering the art of communication. If you don't use your verbal skills and networking, it will disappear rapidly. Use technology wisely.

Being a good listener is more than just being quiet. It's reflecting back on what you're hearing. It's processing the information to formulate a question, a comment or a speech.

[John F.] Kennedy was a great listener. As he listened his eyes got larger, and he looked at you, and you knew you had been looked at and listened to.

Here's the problem: People have completely and utterly forgotten one thing when it comes to communication - intent.

Everybody talks, nobody listens. Good listeners are as rare as white crows.

We should all know this: that listening is not talking; [it] is the gifted and great role and the imaginative role. And the true listener is much more beloved, magnetic than the talker, and he is more effective, and learns more and does more good. And so try listening. Listen to your wife, your husband, your father, your mother, your children, your friends; to those who love you and those who don't, to those who bore you, to your enemies. It will work a small miracle. And perhaps a great one.

Communication is the most important skill in life. We spend most of our waking hours communicating. But consider this: You've spent years learning how to read and write, years learning how to speak. But what about listening?

Listening is everything. Listening is the whole deal. That's what I think. And I mean that in terms of before you work, after you work, in between work, with your children, with your husband, with your friends, with your mother, with your father. It's everything. And it's where you learn everything.

Everyone breathes in air, but it's a wise person who knows when to use that air to speak and when to exhale in silence.

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

Listening takes practice, and it takes patience. But I promise, if you listen, your story will be better for it.

If you listen, you learn; if you talk, you don't.

For maximum impact, listen more and speak less.