
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, vii. 23.
Variant translation: The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
“God gave man two ears and one tongue so we could listen twice as much as we talk.”
As per an article published in the New York Times in 1975, this was King Faisal's favorite quote. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/26/archives/faisal-rich-and-powerful-led-saudis-into-20th-century-and-to-arab.html
We Are Striking to Disrupt the System: An Hour with 16-Year-Old Climate Activist Greta Thunberg https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/11/greta_thunberg_swedish_activist_climate_crisis, DemocracyNow (11 September 2019)
2019
“People are watching the way we act, more than they are listening to what we say.”
Source: Défense des Lettres [In Defense of Letters] (1937), p. 47
“Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.”
“We are all gifted of the mouth, retarded of the ear.”
Source: Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000), p. 40.
“You've got one mouth and two ears. There's a reason.”
Lift Me UP! Service With A Smile (2005)
Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), V. On Conversation