Dialogue can be a very dangerous pastime, for it may force us to give up some of our most cherished caricatures—and these die hard.
What really excites me is the prospect of making people actually enjoy thinking about difficult topics, to laugh even while seriously engaging these very unpleasant subjects.
When you are playing for a top club, when the pressure is on, when scrutiny is everywhere, you need some privacy. You need a place away from public view where people can be open, and, at times, difficult conversations need to be had.
If a parent wants to talk about slavery or wants to talk about countries where bombs go off, they need to have a way - a setting - to have that conversation. And there are wonderful books out there for those kinds of conversations.
People have their guard down when they're laughing, so they're open to tougher conversations they wouldn't necessarily have. If somebody is guarded while laughing, they're a weirdo.
Politics is always a difficult thing to talk about because, like football, the views are radical. You think this way; that guy thinks the opposite way. It is, like, nearly a fight, and feelings are very strong.
What I do is try to stay away from the hot subjects.
We need space to discuss unspoken, uncomfortable dark truths.
I'm the kind of leader who would try to have honest and difficult conversations.
You know when you get into that thing where people want to discuss the relationship? I'd rather discuss what was on telly, avoid the issue, discuss anything other than the relationship.
There is tonic in the things that men do not love to hear.
Topics that are hard to talk about can be difficult for a lot of people, but it's important that we make sure we're addressing difficult topics/issues so it doesn't become the norm.
If you just talk to who's easy to talk to, you're not really getting the best data.
People are always like, 'Did you purposely do something to make people uncomfortable?' And I say the reason why it's uncomfortable is because it's either something that we can't talk about or aren't supposed to talk about, and they're images that aren't ever seen.
I think controversy is an interesting thing in that it usually goes hand in hand with starting conversations that surround taboo or under-discussed topics that need to be discussed and need to be less in the shadows, in my opinion.
I think it is really important that people at least have some potentially difficult discussions about what their expectations are - and not just financially - prior to getting married. It should really even happen prior to people living together or casting their lot together.
Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger.
It would be far more comfortable for me to stay where I was in Connecticut, making 10 times more money and enjoying life than to come down here and subject myself to the kinds of discussions I've gone through for the last three days.
I really do feel like the work and time we spend avoiding having difficult conversations is so much more wasteful and painful and time-consuming than actually having the difficult conversation.
Exposing any subject that is unpleasant or controversial means risking judgment and making some people feel uncomfortable.
I talk to teens everyday about topics that are often extraordinarily uncomfortable.
