When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.
A man hears only what he understands.
Although you hadn't asked why, it had less to do with you not noticing than with you not wanting to hear the answer.
Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.
We as Americans and as humans have very selective hearing and very selective memory. We only hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest.
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them — those are you, those are why you are in the world.
The belly has no ears.
Every man needs a blind eye and a deaf ear, so when people applaud, you'll only hear half of it, and when people salute, you'll only see part of it. Believe only half the praise and half the criticism.
On the day I'm performing, I don't hear anything anyone says to me.
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
He that has ears to hear, let him stuff them with cotton.
I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told, and I have squandered my resistance, for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises. All lies in jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest...la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lala-la-la-la-la...
Our failure to hear His voice when we want to is due to the fact that we do not in general want to hear it, that we want it only when we think we need it.
I want to know where is that committee in Switzerland that sits to decide what is in and what is out. I don't listen to the formula makers. I think maybe I have a selective hearing disorder.
I can hear what I want [people] to play. If you don't hear what you want someone to play, then you can't tell 'em.
I know there are people who say 'just coach'... I don't hear them.
Hear only the things you should hear - be deaf to others.
Dog's listen, or appear to listen. I think they hear blah, blah, blah, FOOD, blah, blah, blah. They appear to be listening to you.
When one is not understood one should as a rule lower one's voice, because when one really speaks loudly enough and is not heard, it is because people do not want to hear. One had better begin to mutter to oneself, then they get curious.
She was reflecting back on a truth she had learned over the years: that people heard what they wanted to hear, saw what they wanted, believed what they wanted.
There's none so blind as those who will not listen.
People hear what they want and expect to hear, not what is said.
By deafness one gains in one respect more than one loses; one misses more nonsense than sense.
When you think you're listening to several conversations at once, they tell me, you may really simply be time sharing - that is, listening a little bit to this one, a little bit to that one.
Some players listen with one ear only.
