Quotes about listening
page 5

“Normally writers do not talk much, because they are saving their conversations for the readers of their book-
those invisible listeners with whom we wish to strike a sympathetic chord.”

Ruskin Bond (1934) British Indian writer

Books

“Well, some men learn by listening, some read, some observe and analyze — and some of us just have to pee on the electric fence.”

Spider Robinson book Variable Star

Source: Variable Star

Men, Learning, Reading

“A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Well of Ascension

World, Idea

“What the hell makes you smart?" I asked.
"I wouldn't go for coffee with you."
"Listen - I wouldn't ask you."
"That," she replied, "is what makes you stupid.”

Erich Segal book Love Story

Variant: What the hell makes you so smart?" I asked. "I wouldn't go for coffee with you, " she answered. "Listen -- I wouldn't ask you." "That, "she replied "is what makes you stupid.
Source: Love Story

Stupidity, Coffee, Hell

“I had a good-talking candle last night in my bedroom. I was very tired but I wanted somebody to be with me, so I lit a candle and listened to its comfortable voice of light until I was asleep.”

Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer

Light, Night

“Meaning, I need you to focus. If you want to save Madaug, you need to listen to me or the mortents will eat both of you Pop-Tarts for breakfast. (Ambrose)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

“…. there is a difference between hearing and listening. You can't always help what you hear. But you can control what holds your interest, what you choose to dwell on.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

Help

“Sighing, she shut the book with a snap. “All right. You need to vent, so I’ll listen to you vent. But do it quickly, because Rydstorm was about to plunder Sabine with his thick, hard—”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Twice as Hot

Books

“There was something so best-musical-ever when people screamed and begged for mercy, and she could listen to a good musical all day.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Surrender

People, Music

“I woke up in the morning and I didn’t want anything, didn’t do anything, couldn’t do it anyway, just lay there listening to the blood rush
through me and it never made any sense, anything.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Sense

“You want to be a better person? Go listen to someone you disagree with. don't argue with them just. It's remarkable what interesting things people will say if you take the time to not be a jerk.”

Brandon Sanderson book Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

People, Jerk, Time, Personality

“I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

“Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death”

John Keats Ode to a Nightingale

Stanza 6
Poems (1820), Ode to a Nightingale
Source: The Complete Poems
Context: Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain —
To thy high requiem become a sod.

Love, Death, Time

“It occurred to me that everyone’s story matters to themselves, so the more I listened, the more she wanted to talk.”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: It Chooses You

“It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Cocktail Time

Source: Cocktail Time (1958)

“If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh

Source: Winnie-the-Pooh

Appearance, Personality

“There is a difference between listening and hearing, just as there is a difference between seeing and knowing.”

Meg Cabot book All American Girl

Source: All-American Girl

“Listen,' Clover said. 'Don't worry about not being able to come back, I've lived both places, and trust me, you won't be getting the short end of the stick if you end up in Foo. I mean, candy alone…”

Obert Skye (1970) American writer

“The silence grew deeper, so deep that if you listened carefully you might very well catch the sound of the earth revolving on its axis.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Silence

“Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.

Their language has been lost.

But not the gestures.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Secret, Tree, Singing

“Are we, like, having a conversation?"
"Did you just, like, ask me for advice and listen with an open mind? If so, then yes, I would call this a conversation”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

“Were you listening to a word I said '
'I kind of switched off when you drew breath.”

Jasper Fforde (1961) British novelist

Source: Shades of Grey

“It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

God, Thinking

“My earbuds were in, but I wasn't playing music. I needed to hear the world but didn't want the world to know I was listening.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Variant: I needed to hear the world but didn't want the world to know I was listening.
Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

World, Music

“No, it’s not a very good story - its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside.”

Stephen King book Different Seasons

Variant: No, it's not a very good story - its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside.
Source: Different Seasons

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