Christopher Alexander Quotes

It is easier to speak to those who have had similar experiences than to those who are as yet ignorant.

My life is essentially not so unique. On some deeper levels we feel the same, we know the same things. Therefore if I show my life 365 days, moments from those days, it will reflect and it will have connection with lives of all of us.

An ancient father says that a dog we know is better company than a man whose language we do not understand.

There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community, and communication.... Try the experiment of communicating, with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it be somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude toward your experience changing.

Only through communication can human life hold meaning.

People tend to compartmentalize themselves into IT people, and movie star people, and scientists, but when we share our perspectives about nature, we find a common denominator.

You have to walk in the other guy's moccasins. You have to think what they think. If you want to bring somebody onto your side, you have to figure out what motivates them. What do they need?

Those who seek the divine want to make this world a better place, which first requires that we communicate.

Rational discussion is useful only when there is a significant base of shared assumptions.

Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are checks drawn on insufficient funds.

There are those moments when you shake someone's hand, have a conversation with someone, and suddenly your all bound together because you share your humanity in one simple moment.

I think in most relationships that have problems, there's fault on both sides. And in order for it to work, there has to be some common ground that's shared. And it's not just one person making amends.

There's shorthand that happens when you work with someone you know where you can almost finish each other's sentences. There's just a certain back and forth that becomes much easier with someone you've worked with for so long.

We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.

Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.

Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human art begins; they understand each other and have the power of continuing to make themselves understood more and more clearly; they belong together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole

Probably above all other things, I am interested as a writer in making a connection, interested in the parts of all of us that connect.

You always have to come from the element of 'What do you have in common?' first. It makes it easier to work through your differences.

When you are in someone's home, in their bed, you see the world from their eyes. You understand 'the other' is not so other.

You don't see people that are willing to say 'You know what, you might be different politically, but let's find some common ground, let's find ways that we're actually similar.' We just assume immediately that we have nothing in common, what can even talk to that person about.

That's always what I've tried to do. I've tried to communicate. But at the end of the day, it's still for you to understand something. Understand that the world is bigger than you.

There is room for growth in all of us and across all of these platforms, to be able to make sure that we are hearing each other, that we are understanding exactly what's going on across the country.

I've always found that if you listen to people you can find common ground.

With actors and directors, it's a conversation that you have. You have to learn each other's language and learn how to communicate with each other effectively. It's really nice when you can have that communication on a level where they walk up to you and you can see by the expression on their face what they want. You don't even have to talk, it just like, "Got it!" And, you know what they want before they even ask for it.

Neither the mouse nor the boy was the least bit surprised that each could understand the other. Two creatures who shared a love for motorcycles naturally spoke the same language.