“Dialogue concentrates meaning; conversation dilutes it.”

— Robert McKee

Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Robert McKee 11

American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters 1941

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“Dialectic generally means "of the nature of the dialogue," which is a conversation between two persons. Nowadays it means logical argumentation. It involves a technique of cross-examination, by which truth is arrived at.”

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Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 29

“Peace is a path of hope, a path on which one advances through dialogue, reconciliation and conversion.”

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“"Nothing," wrote General de Gaulle, "strengthens authority so much as silence." Speech dilutes thought; it allows one's courage to leak away - in short, it dissipates the concentration that is required.”

André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer

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“Dialogue for the sake of conversation serves no ethical, moral or practical purpose. Dialogue that is one way, or in which we are silent about our grave concerns about injustice, or where we end up kowtowing, appeasing or unwittingly complicit with evil, is immoral.”

Benedict Rogers (1974) London-based human rights activist

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“After a while Hilvar did his best to steer the conversation away from these meaningless morasses of theology in order to concentrate on the ascertainable facts.”

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Source: The City and the Stars (1956), Chapter 13 (p. 100)

“If you feel irritated by the absurd remarks of two people whose conversation you happen to overhear, you should imagine that you are listening to a dialogue of two fools in a comedy.”

Arthur Schopenhauer book Parerga and Paralipomena

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“Sex is a conversation carried out by other means.”

Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) English actor, writer, and dramatist

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“Any question of philosophy … which is so obscure and uncertain, that human reason can reach no fixed determination with regard to it; if it should be treated at all; seems to lead us naturally into the style of dialogue and conversation.”

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“Transphobia and antitrans statements should not be treated as just another viewpoint that we should be free to express at the happy table of diversity. There cannot be a dialogue when some at the table are in effect (or intent on) arguing for the elimination of others at the table. When you have “dialogue or debate” with those who wish to eliminate you from the conversation (because they do not recognize what is necessary for your survival, or because they don’t even think your existence is possible), then “dialogue and debate” becomes a technique of elimination. A refusal to have some dialogues and some debates is thus a key tactic for survival.”

Sara Ahmed (1969) Australian and British academic

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“Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.”

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters

Letter to his godson, No.112 (undated)

“Dialogue concentrates meaning; conversation dilutes it.”

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