dialogue skills Quotes

If we were meant to talk more than listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.

If you want to be a good conversationalist, be a good listener. To be interesting, be interested.

Listening is as important as talking. If you're a good listener, people often compliment you for being a good conversationalist.

There are always more people who prefer to speak than to listen.

I'm sure that everything you do contributes to the sort of novel that you write. A lot of actors have an understanding of drama and a good ear for dialogue and also the rhythm of speech. Similarly, my 16 years in radio drama has influenced me. You only have 45 minutes, or 7,000 words, to tell a story, so every scene has to have a point.

I happen to disagree with the well-entrenched theory that the art of conversation is merely the art of being a good listener. Such advice invites people to be cynical with one another and full of fake; when a conversation becomes a monologue, poked along with tiny cattle-prod questions, it isn't a conversation any more.

Maybe because I began as a writer, I have a good ear for dialogue, and maybe being an English major - and that I also read a lot as a kid - if I hear somebody say something that I think's funny, or I find a situation or story, I'll try to work that into the movie.

If you can listen well, people will say you're a good conversationalist.

The great challenge facing us today is to learn once again how to talk to one another, not simply how to generate and consume information. The latter is a tendency which our important and influential modern communications media can encourage. Information is important, but it is not enough. All too often things get simplified, different positions and viewpoints are pitted against one another, and people are invited to take sides, rather than to see things as a whole.

The journalism, I was a financial journalist - it's very good training as a writer. You have to write for deadlines; you have a certain economy of phrasing. As a training ground as a writer, it's fantastic. I also think it teaches you to be observant, to listen to people, and gives you an ear of dialogue from doing interviews.

If you can't communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you're giving up your potential.

The first thing you have to learn is how to conduct dialogue and how to make it productive.

I was a director and dialogue and acting coach.

I learned a tremendous amount about dialogue because I suffered as an actor.

It is equally important to listen as it is to speak.