Chaim Potok Quotes

Before language, cavemen simply grunted, and then they used the club. Communication changed that. It's the mechanism that created civilization and prevents its own destruction.

We are never half so interesting when we have learned that language is given us to enable us to conceal our thoughts.

Leaders show respect for people by giving them time.

There is something I like about talking to journalists that really goes beyond promotion because you aren't just talking to the journalist, but you are talking through them to people who presumably are fans of the Rolling Stones. The interviews give you a chance to say a few things and maybe clear up some of the things people read about the band.

Do you think that people will obey the truth because it is true, unless they love it? No, they will not. Truth is obeyed when it is loved.

If he wants to tell you, he'll tell you. End of story, Rose. Besides, you certainly keep your share of secrets too. You two have a lot in common." "Are you kidding? He's arrogant, sarcastic, likes to intimidate people, and—oh." Okay. Maybe she had a point.

[This] is very important to remember when reading or writing or talking or whatever: You are never, ever choosing whether to use symbols. You are choosing which symbols to use.

Giving people what they want isn't always what they want.

And Paul Moravec, not being a theater person, would always trust me when I said things that I am like, "you're going to need another 10 seconds of music year to get them across the stage." But I always knew that the people were going to be coming to hear his music of which my words are going to be a part. It was clear that he wanted to go and direction A., and I wanted to go and direction B. We would've gone and direction A. That's the most important piece of advice I can give to anybody who finds themselves in an opera, or musical comedy situation like that.

Nothing makes a man, or a body of men, as mad as the truth. If there is no truth in it, they laugh it off.

If I walk into a room of 500 people, my standard is, if I can't give 400 or 450 of you something, a language or a new way of seeing something, then I have failed. If I get 100 of you, I am a failure. I have to get a majority.

Nobody ever completely means what they say. Even when they think they're telling the truth, there's always something hidden behind their words.

...if you expect people to try to do things your way, you're going to have to give some hints as to what that way is.

...the best figurative poetry speaks not to the frivolous intellect, but (if anything does) straight to the heart; and does it better than plain prose. There seems then to be something which is better said with metaphor than without, which goes straighter to its mark by going crooked, and hits its aim exactly by flying off at tangents.

Empathic listening takes time, but it doesn't take anywhere near as much time as it takes to back up and correct misunderstandings when you're already miles down the road; to redo; to live with unexpressed and unsolved problems; to deal with the results of not giving people psychological air.

There are a great many people who do not understand things so there is no use in telling them.

I learned that the people who have the cards are usually the ones who talk the least and the softest; those who are bluffing tend to talk loudly and give themselves away.

Much sheer effort goes into avoiding the truth; left to itself, it sweeps in like the tide.

People who refuse to accept unpleasant truths have no right to complain about politicians who lie to them. What other kind of candidates would such people elect?

It's about me, or people wouldn't be so anxious to keep me from knowing about it. The absence of information is information. ~ Ender

When I'm starting to feel, "How many more people are there?" I go slower. I ask questions, and that person engaging with me gives me energy.

I want to write a novel about Silence," he said; “the things people don’t say.

But you can't make people listen. They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up around them. It can't last.

I can tell you that the job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is about as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place.

But why, why, why can't people just say what they mean?