“A few have a great power of listening and attending, but they are only few, and this power gives them a superiority over those who cannot attend.”
An Old Man's Thoughts on Many Things, Of Education I
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George Long 66
English classical scholar 1800–1879Related quotes
Herbert N. Casson cited in: Supervisory Management. Vol. 1 (1955). p. 60
1950s and later
“The inability to listen and to attend is”
An Old Man's Thoughts on Many Things, Of Education I
Context: The inability to listen and to attend is of course a mental defect; but habit may make the defect so great, that a man's ears may almost lose the faculty of hearing what another man says, and he may be able to hear only the sweet sound of his own voice. Such incapable people are generally great talkers, very tiresome, and bad companions. They cannot be debaters in public assemblies, and can only deliver themselves of their own words.
Source: Problems Of Humanity (1944), p. 13
Source: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), p. 30
An Old Man's Thoughts on Many Things, Of Education I
No. 73
The Federalist Papers (1787–1788)
Context: There are men who could neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of their duty; but this stern virtue is the growth of few soils; and in the main it will be found that a power over a man's support is a power over his will. If it were necessary to confirm so plain a truth by facts, examples would not be wanting, even in this country, of the intimidation or seduction of the Executive by the terrors or allurements of the pecuniary arrangements of the legislative body.
