Art of Conversation Quotes

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

It has been said that good prose should resemble the conversation of a well-bred man.

My great grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, who in turn told her daughter, my grandmother, who repeated it to her daughter, my mother, who used to remind her daughter, my own sister, that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art, but that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop.

That silence is one of the great arts of conversation is allowed by Cicero himself, who says, there is not only an art, but even an eloquence in it

Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all.

Some people are just born to cook and talk.

A diverse and lively collection, the highest art of the interview.

There is no God, and conversation is a dying art.

I learned to impersonate the kind of person that talks about poetry. It comes from teaching, I think.

Look at all those unattractive people talking about depraved things all day long on TV talk shows. People can talk about themselves, yet the art of conversation, which has to do with sharing, is disappearing. I feel as though I am chasing a runaway locomotive.

The funniest women I've known are Southern. It is such a vital way to get what you want. Charm and grace and a sense of humor will take you a long way.

That amenity which the French have developed into a great art . . . conversation.

Conversation as talent exists only in France. In other countries, conversation provides politeness, discussion, and friendship; in France, it is an art for which imagination and soul are certainly very welcome, but which can also provide its own secret remedies to compensate you for the absence of either or both, if you so desire.