James M. Barrie Quotes

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

That which chiefly causes the failure of a dinner-party, is the running short--not of meat, nor yet of drink, but of conversation.

And not to serve for a table-talk.

Making small talk about what someone is wearing is just another form of unsolicited feedback.

There's a lot of interviews now where nobody seems to talk about anything. Like it's illegal. But it can be fun if you stay involved. Like most conversations.

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

You can't just talk politics all the time - it's boring.

It's important for me who is at the table with me; the moment when everyone speaks to each other and everyone listens. If there's good food, it's much better.

Never ask a bore a question.

If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating.

I would love to have a conversation with you when we're working, and if I'm at a basketball game, I'll probably talk to everyone there. That's different. But on the outside world, if I don't know you and you don't know me, I probably cannot sit there and have a conversation.

I can't abide small talk.

Every improvement in communication makes the bore more terrible.

So, do you live around here often?

Tis not the food, but the content, That makes the table's merriment.

Cocktail party: A gathering held to enable forty people to talk about themselves at the same time. The man who remains after the liquor is gone is the host.

Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.

If it were not for quotations, conversations between gentlemen would consist of an endless series of 'what-ho!'s.

How ya doin'?' I always think, What kind of a question is that?, and I always reply, 'A bit early to tell.

A great dinner must include not only yummy food, but good conversation.

For table-talk, I prefer the pleasant and witty before the learned and the grave; in bed, beauty before goodness.

It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples.

It is an impertinent and unreasonable fault in conversation for one man to take up all the discourse.

Whether it's a big dinner party or people just coming over to hang out, I just love to spend time with them.

Don't take up a man's time talking about the smartness of your children; he wants to talk to you about the smartness of his children.