
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
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.
“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
Io parlo parlo ... ma chi m'ascolta ritiene solo le parole che aspetta. ... Chi comanda al racconto non è la voce: è l'orecchio.
Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, in Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (1974), ch. 9
In fiction
“Listen with ears of tolerance!
See through the eyes of compassion!
Speak with the language of love.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
On her advice to poets in “The First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate on How Poetry Can Counter Hate” https://time.com/5658443/joy-harjo-poet-interview/ in Time Magazine (2019 Aug 22)
“Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.”
“Some one else is speaking with my mouth, but I'm listening only to my heart.”
Song lyrics, Infidels (1983), I and I