Conversation
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I think the first prerequisite to civilisation is an ability to make polite conversation.
Civilisation, Conversation, Manners
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If one could only teach the English how to talk and the Irish how to listen, society will be quite civilised.
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Note the sudden languor and death we inflict on those we talk to about ourselves and their prompt resurrection when we bring into our story something concerning them.
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As the stamp of great minds is to suggest much in few words, so contrariwise, little minds have the gift of talking a great deal and saying nothing.
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If one could teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilised.
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Faith, that’s as well said as if I had said it myself.
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He has occasional flashes of silence that make his conversation perfectly delightful.
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If you have nothing to say or rather something extremely stupid and obvious, say it, but in a ‘plonking’ tone of voice ie roundly, but hollowly and dogmatically.
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Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.
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The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.
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There are two things in conversation which ordinary people dislike – information and wit.
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I’ve just spent an hour talking to Tallulah for a few minutes.
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If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating.
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How time flies when you are doing all the talking.
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Blessed is the man who having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.
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The fun of talk is to find what a man really thinks and then contrast it with the enormous lies he has been telling at dinner and perhaps all his life.
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Is it possible to cultivate the art of conversation when living in the country all year round?
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Too much agreement kills a chat.
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When you were just a little boy somebody ought to have said ‘Hush’, just once.
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You’ll interrupt yourself in a minute.
[to John Humphrys on ‘Today’]
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Although there exists many thousand subjects for elegant conversation, there are persons who cannot meet a cripple without talking about feet.
