“I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and taking note of what you do not say.”
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T.S. Eliot 270
20th century English author 1888–1965Related quotes
“Do you decide to observe? Or do you merely observe?”
5th Public Talk Saanen (26th July 1970); also in "Fear and Pleasure", The Collected Works, Vol. X
1970s
Context: Do you decide to observe? Or do you merely observe? Do you decide and say, "I am going to observe and learn"? For then there is the question: "Who is deciding?" Is it will that says, "I must"? And when it fails, it chastises itself further and says, "I must, must, must"; in that there is conflict; therefore the state of mind that has decided to observe is not observation at all. You are walking down the road, somebody passes you by, you observe and you may say to yourself, "How ugly he is; how he smells; I wish he would not do this or that". You are aware of your responses to that passer-by, you are aware that you are judging, condemning or justifying; you are observing. You do not say, "I must not judge, I must not justify". In being aware of your responses, there is no decision at all. You see somebody who insulted you yesterday. Immediately all your hackles are up, you become nervous or anxious, you begin to dislike; be aware of your dislike, be aware of all that, do not "decide" to be aware. Observe, and in that observation there is neither the "observer" nor the "observed" — there is only observation taking place. The "observer" exists only when you accumulate in the observation; when you say, "He is my friend because he has flattered me", or, "He is not my friend, because he has said something ugly about me, or something true which I do not like." That is accumulation through observation and that accumulation is the observer. When you observe without accumulation, then there is no judgement.
Source: Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Mrs. Frankweiler in From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967)
Address to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Boston, Massachusetts (30 July 1903), printed in "Account of the Boston Riot," Boston Globe (31 July 1903) http://web.archive.org/20071031084056/www.historycooperative.org/btw/Vol.7/html/235.html
“In closing a deal, what you don’t say may be more helpful than what you do say.”
The Business of Life (1949)
Introduction, p. 24
Thinking and Destiny (1946)
