Mavis Staples Quotes

I knew what my job was; it was to go out and meet the people and love them.

I believe that a politician needs to be with people.

I believe you learn social skills by mixing with people.

When I'm out there on the streets, I enjoy meeting people and listening to their complaints and critiques. It's something that I take great pleasure in.

I connect with people on a daily basis.

You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

My biggest job really is to figure other people out. I need to understand what makes a person tick.

Empathy and social skills are social intelligence, the interpersonal part of emotional intelligence. That's why they look alike.

To know one's self is wisdom, but not to know one's neighbors is genius.

You have to be aware of who you're talking to in an audience.

Translating any insights I have for strangers' lives into positive action in my own has proved a challenge. While I've learned a lot about what everyone else is thinking, I fail miserably to use such knowledge in my private relationships.

What I'm talking about, what I strongly suggest to people, is that they should get closer to the people they're with.

It is something I recognise in myself. I do eavesdrop. I do people-watch, a lot.

We need to learn to observe and listen to people more to get to know them.

The ability to communicate with everybody, regardless of who are you are, is a great thing.

Part of being out there, campaigning, talking to people, is being able to read body language.

Bores bore each other too; but it never seems to teach them anything.

I love observing both vocally and by sight. So I take on a lot of those elements of people around me.

I think because both of my parents were essentially salespeople, and Italian-Americans, I always seemed to get along with people; I had a knack of finding something to talk about.

I went into the world confident my tea training would open many doors. And I did particularly well with the Irish and fellow Nova Scotians over 60. But this only got me so far. It took a long time to cultivate the tricks of easy social interaction.

I wanted to communicate and connect. I simply didn't seem able to do it.

I spent over 90 percent of my time talking to people who didn’t have to listen to me.

Most of the people that I deal with are human. So I've had a lot of experience with that.

I see my task as serving the majority of people. The question is, how do you find out what they want, how best to serve them? My answer is to stay close to ordinary people because, at heart, I am one of them.

You must look into people as well as at them.