Quotes about talk
page 31

Willard Boyle photo

“A certain ounce of arrogance is not essential in carrying forward an idea. In talking about the device with others, surprising now number of people who either were quite negative and had reasons to suggest it would not function as described or claimed that it would be of little interest and no better than some already existing device.”

Willard Boyle (1924–2011) Canadian physicist and inventor

Willard S. Boyle and George Elwood Smith describing The Inception of Charge-Coupled Devices, edited by [Frederick Su, Technology of our times: people and innovation in optics and optoelectronics, SPIE Press, 1990, 0819404721, 91]

Gerhard Richter photo

“Long words, fat talk — they may tell us something about ourselves. Has the passion for fat in the language increased as self-confidence has waned?”

Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States

"American Fat" (p.46)
So This Is Depravity (1980)

William R. Looney III photo

“If they turn on their radars we're going to blow up their goddamn SAMs [surface-to- air missiles]. They know we own their country. We own their airspace…We dictate the way they live and talk. And that’s what’s great about America right now. It’s a good thing, especially when there’s a lot of oil out there we need.”

William R. Looney III (1949) 28th Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

Comments about the bombing of Iraq in the late 1990s, which he directed. Interview Washington Post (August 30, 1999); quoted in Rogue State, William Blum, Common Courage Press, 2005, p. 159.

Brian Cowen photo

“Yeah, well, there's a mirror in the toilet if you want to go in there and talk to them.”

Brian Cowen (1960) Irish politician

Brian Cowen responding to Martin McGuinness stating "We'll have to consult the [IRA] army council on this" to certain proposals made during the peace talks concerning Northern Ireland.
McCarthy, Justine, Cowen: The Anointed One, Sunday Tribune, 28 October 2007, 2008-05-07 http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2007/oct/28/cowen-the-anointed-one/,
2007

Philip Roth photo
Rudyard Kipling photo

“That's the secret. 'Tisn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just It. Some women'll stay in a man's memory if they once walk down a street.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Mrs. Bathurst http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/TrafficsDiscoveries/bathurst.html (1904).
Other works

Arjo Klamer photo
Gao Xingjian photo

“When God talks to humans he doesn’t want humans to hear his voice.”

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 81, p. 505

Bob Dylan photo

“In the dime stores and bus stations,
People talk of situations,
Read books repeat quotations,
Draw conclusions on the wall.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Alex Salmond photo

“It is easier for us to talk of sacrifice and of change than it is to achieve them. Both can be difficult, sometimes painful. But we have guidance on this new path. We have ourselves, we have each other.”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

Scotland in the World Forum (February 4, 2008), Church of Scotland (May 25, 2009)

Denis Healey photo
Harriet Beecher Stowe photo

“Lor bless ye, yes! These critters ain't like white folks, you know; they gets over things, only manage right. Now, they say," said Haley, assuming a candid and confidential air, "that this kind o' trade is hardening to the feelings; but I never found it so. Fact is, I never could do things up the way some fellers manage the business. I've seen 'em as would pull a woman's child out of her arms, and set him up to sell, and she screechin' like mad all the time; — very bad policy — damages the article — makes 'em quite unfit for service sometimes. I knew a real handsome gal once, in Orleans, as was entirely ruined by this sort o' handling. The fellow that was trading for her didn't want her baby; and she was one of your real high sort, when her blood was up. I tell you, she squeezed up her child in her arms, and talked, and went on real awful. It kinder makes my blood run cold to think of 't; and when they carried off the child, and locked her up, she jest went ravin' mad, and died in a week. Clear waste, sir, of a thousand dollars, just for want of management, — there's where 't is. It's always best to do the humane thing, sir; that's been my experience.”

And the trader leaned back in his chair, and folded his arm, with an air of virtuous decision, apparently considering himself a second Wilberforce.
Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Ch. 1 In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity

Anthony Burgess photo
Kenneth Grahame photo
Morrissey photo
Allen C. Guelzo photo
Eric Holder photo
Paul McCartney photo

“You can talk film theory till you're blue in the face, but in the end, the thing that may haunt you most about a movie is a pair of eyes.”

Stephanie Zacharek (1963) American film critic

Seduced and Abandoned, Salon.com, 1997-05-09, 2006-08-25, http://web.archive.org/web/19990828005105/http://www.salon.com/may97/vep970509.html, 1999-08-28 http://www.salon.com/may97/vep970509.html,

Clay Aiken photo
Fernando J. Corbató photo
Molière photo

“Those whose conduct gives room for talk
Are always the first to attack their neighbors.”

Ceux de qui la conduite offre le plus à rire
Sont toujours sur autrui les premiers à médire.
Act I, sc. i
Tartuffe (1664)

M. Balamuralikrishna photo

“He [Guru Parupalli Ramakrishna Pantulu gaaru] would take care of me. He focussed only on teaching me and never on performances. He never cared about popularity and wealth. However, I am not like that. I perform and give my listeners a tough time. They think this fellow is not good. He does not follow tradition. I provide them with food for talk and thought.”

M. Balamuralikrishna (1930–2016) Carnatic vocalist, instrumentalist and playback singer

Source: Interview by Prince Rama Varma There's no one way to teach. http://hindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2006030400630400.htm&date=2006/03/04/&prd=mp&, The Hindu, 4 March 2006.

Charles, Prince of Wales photo
Kathy Griffin photo
Camille Paglia photo
Louis-ferdinand Céline photo

“Anybody who talks about the future is a bastard, it's the present that counts.”

Source: Journey to the End of the Night (1932), Chapter 4

Hilary Duff photo

“Music is so personal to me. I can be myself, and say what I want to say. I feel I'm honest and don't try to hide things. But music enables people to learn about my personality, how I'm evolving. Even if I don't feel comfortable talking about something, I can feel comfortable expressing that same thing through my music.”

Hilary Duff (1987) American actress and singer

"Hilary Duff comes to Manchester on Jan. 27" http://www.seacoastonline.com/2004news/dover/12312004/arts/56606.htm. The Dover Community News. December 31 2004. Retrieved October 25 2006.
On the recording of Hilary Duff (2004), her third album and second non-holiday album.

Agatha Christie photo
John Major photo

“If the implication of his remarks is that we should sit down and talk with Mr. Adams and the Provisional IRA, I can say only that that would turn my stomach and those of most hon. Members; we will not do it. If and when there is a total ending of violence, and if and when that ending of violence is established for a significant time, we shall talk to all the constitutional parties that have people elected in their names. I will not talk to people who murder indiscriminately.”

John Major (1943) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Hansard, HC 6 ser, vol 231 col 35 (1 November 1993).
In reply to a question from Dennis Skinner concerning peace talks in Ireland. This reply caused Major some embarrassment when it was revealed on 29 November 1993 that at the time government officials (although not Ministers) were in negotiations with Sinn Féin and the IRA.
1990s, 1993

Lee Kuan Yew photo
Robert A. Heinlein photo
John Danforth photo
Louis Bromfield photo
Heinrich Himmler photo

“I also want to talk to you, quite frankly, on a very grave matter. Among ourselves it should be mentioned quite frankly, and yet we will never speak of it publicly. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30th, 1934 to do the duty we were bidden, and stand comrades who had lapsed, up against the wall and shoot them, so we have never spoken about it and will never [p. 65] speak of it. It was that tact which is a matter of course and which I am glad to say, is inherent in us, that made us never discuss it among ourselves, never to speak of it. It appalled everyone, and yet everyone was certain that he would do it the next time if such orders are issued and if it is necessary. I mean the evacuation out of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish race. It's one of those things it is easy to talk about - "The Jewish race is being exterminated", says one party member, "that's quite clear, it's in our program - elimination  of the Jews, and we're doing it, exterminating them." And then they come, 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. Of course the others are vermin, but this one is an A-1 Jew. Not one of all those who talk this way has witnessed it, not one of them has been through it. Most of you must know what it means when 100 corpses are lying side by side, or 500 or 1000. To have stuck it out and at the same time - apart from exceptions caused by human weakness - to have remained decent fellows, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history which has never been written and is never to be [p. 66] written, for we know how difficult we should have made it for ourselves, if - with the bombing raids, the burdens and the deprivations of war - we still had Jews today in every town as secret saboteurs, agitators and trouble-mongers. We would now probably have reached the 1916/17 stage when the Jews were still in the German national body.”

Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) Nazi officer, Commander of the SS

The Posen speech to SS officers (4 October 1943), original translation from "International Military Trials - Nurnberg Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV", US Govt Printing Offc 1946 pp. 563-4.

Yogi Berra photo

“My ambition is to hit.400 and talk 1.000.”

Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American baseball player, manager, coach

As quoted in "Stupid, You Say?" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2ykxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MhAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4563%2C4702173.

Lysander Spooner photo
Margaret Sanger photo
Chuck Jones photo
Rod Serling photo
Leslie Feist photo

“I know more than I knew before
I didn't rest I didn't stop
Did we fight or did we talk.”

Leslie Feist (1976) Canadian musician

"I Feel It All"
The Reminder (2007)

Clive Staples Lewis photo
Maddox photo
Glen Cook photo
Allen West (politician) photo
Mary McCarthy photo
Ray Comfort photo

“So, a talking parrot, three hundred people flying through the sky in a big tin can called a 747, a human being growing inside another person, and men walking on the moon don't contradict logic?”

Ray Comfort (1949) New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist

You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think (2009)

Alan Moore photo
Phil Brooks photo

“Punk: I'm not gonna have you sit here and belittle me. Say I've lost sight? I've lost sight of things, John? The reason I say I'm gonna take that and walk out is because I don't fit a certain mold. Because I am the underdog, and that's exactly what you've lost sight of. Earlier in this ring, you mentioned great wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero and you said they used to look at you and say that the kid couldn't hang. And now you stand here and look at me as the kid that can't hang. John, I was hanging off of your gangster car, WrestleMania 22, as it rolled down in Chicago, Illinois, and I stood there in a suit looking as ridiculous as [points to Vince McMahon] that man looks right now in his suit, holding a phony Tommy gun, and I said to myself someday, I'm not gonna be standing out there watching you in the ring; I was gonna be in the ring watching you go down to CM Punk. And now here we are in your hometown of Boston. And now next week, we'll be back there in my hometown—Chicago, Illinois. And this… this is the part where I talk 'em into the building. See, you are the one that's lost sight, and I apologize for raising my voice because I'm not that guy. But when you stand here and tell me that I've lost sight, when you, the 10-time Champion who stands for hustle, loyalty and respect; who, from Boston, Massachusetts, lives and breathes these red colors, the same colors as your beloved Red Sox, who also portray themselves as the underdog, I'm sure just like the Bruins portray themselves as the underdog. Just like the Patriots think they're the underdog! Hey, how about those Celtics? Are they the underdogs too? Here's what you've lost sight of, John, and I'm really happy that your father and your wife are sitting in the front row so they can hear it!
John Cena: That's the last time I'm gonna tell you, man, ease up.
Punk: What you've lost sight of is what you are, and what you are is what you hate. You're the 10-time WWE Champion! You're the man! You, like the Red Sox, like Boston, are no longer the underdog! You're a dynasty. You are what you hate. You have become the New York Yankees! [John immediately punches Punk, who scoots out of the ring, grabs the contract, and goes up the ramp. Points respectively to Vince and John] You're Steinbrenner, and you might as well be Jeter! Mr. 3000, I'm the underdog! [John's music plays for fourteen seconds] Turn it off! Turn the music off because I have something to say, and I'm positive that everybody here wants to hear it, and everybody sitting at home has their DVRs fired up because they wanna hear it! I'm glad you just punched me in the face, John. I'm glad it went down this way because it hit me like a bolt of lightning—exactly why I no longer wanna be here, why I wanna leave. It's because I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you. I'm just tired. So ladies and gentlemen of the WWE Universe, Vince, John, Sunday night, say goodbye to the WWE Title, say goodbye to John Cena, and say goodbye to CM Punk! [Rips up the contract] I'll go be the best in the world somewhere else.”

Phil Brooks (1978) American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

July 11, 2011
WWE Raw

Nigel Short photo

“A friend of mine recently joked that his mobile phone will beat Magnus Carlsen. I said, ‘What are you talking about? My microwave could beat Magnus Carlsen.</b”

Nigel Short (1965) British chess player and writer

Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/14/chess-grandmaster-caught-using-iphone-to-cheat-during-international-tournament/ (April 14, 2015)

Richard Stallman photo
Ian Holloway photo

“In football you need to have everything in your cake mix to make the cake taste right. One little bit of ingredient that Tony uses in his cake gets talked about all the time is Rory’s throw. Call that cinnamon and he’s got a cinnamon flavoured cake. It’s not fair and it’s not right and it’s only a small part of what he does.”

Ian Holloway (1963) English association football player and manager

On Tony Pulis's style of management. Mirror Football, 10 December 2010
Holloway uses bizarre cake analogy for Pulis' Stoke style, Mirror Football, 2010-12-11, Jeremy, Butler, 2010-12-10 http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Stoke-v-Blackpool-Ian-Holloway-blasts-critics-of-Tony-Pulis-style-by-using-a-bizarre-cake-analogy-article648761.html,
Sourced quotes

Ricky Gervais photo

“If there is a god, why did he make me an atheist? That was his first mistake. Well, the talking snake was his first mistake.”

Ricky Gervais (1961) English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician, writer, and former radio presenter

"Inside the Actors Studio," 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBBtYcK9Jb8

Bryan Adams photo
Judith Sheindlin photo
David Allen photo

“You talk to yourself 50,000 times a day. What's 300 emails? #SmallBizChat”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

3 June 2010 https://twitter.com/gtdguy/status/15287285385
Official Twitter profile (@gtdguy) https://twitter.com/gtdguy

“First of all, no one can accuse me, Ayad Jamal Aldin, of secatarianism, because I support a secular regime that fully separates religion and the state. […] I believe that my freedom as a Shia and as a religious person will never be complete unless I preserve the freedom of the Sunni, the Christian, the Jew, the Sabai and the Yazidi. We will not be able to preserve the freedom of the mosque unless we preserve the freedom of entertainment clubs. […] The curricula - both the modern ones, in some Arab and Islamic countries, and the books of jurisprudence and heritage - have many flaws that must be fixed once and for all. There are rulings about Ahl al-Dhimma - even if, Allah be praised, no current regime can enforce these rulings. However, just for the sake of amusement and diversion, I recommend that the viewers read the books of jurisprudence, and see how Ahl al-Dhimma are treated. I especially recommend this to people with a lust for Arab and Islamic history, who claim that our history is a source of pride, and that others were treated with kindness and love - especially Christians and Jews. Among these rulings, a Dhimmi must wear a belt, so he would be identifiable. Moreover, it is recommended that he be forced to the narrowest paths, and there are even jurisprudents who say that it is recommended to slap a Christian on the back of his neck so he would feel humiliated and degraded. This is how we harass him and then invite him to join Islam. I can swear that the Prophet Muhammad is innocent of such inhuman jurisprudence. I challenge anyone among the people with a lust for history to talk candidly to the West, to the advocates of human rights, and tell them that our heritage has such evils and flaws. We are a nation of blackout and darkness. We cannot live in the light of day. […] We do not hold ourselves accountable. This is why America came to demand that the Arabs be accountable. We must have more self-confidence and be accountable before others hold us accountable. We must discipline ourselves before the Americans and English discipline us. We must maintain human rights, which we have neglected for 1,300 or 1,400 years, to this day - until the arrival of the Americans, the Christians, the English, the Zionists, the Crusaders - call them what you will. They came to teach you, the followers of Muhammad, how to respect human rights.”

Iyad Jamal Al-Din (1961) Iraqi politician

Sayyed Ayad Jamal Aldin: Sayyed Ayad Jamal Aldin: The Arabs Want Tyrannical Regimes, in Line with Their Backward Culture, LBC TV, July 31, 2005 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_ZKffu6Wsg,

Stéphane Mallarmé photo
Elena Ceaușescu photo

“Such impudence! I am a member and the chairwoman of the Academy of Sciences. You cannot talk to me in such a way!”

Elena Ceaușescu (1916–1989) Romanian politician

Statements at trial http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transcript_of_the_closed_trial_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceau%C5%9Fescu (25 December 1989), in response to being asked who wrote her scientific papers

Ethan Nadelmann photo
Henry J. Heinz photo
Chris Martin photo
Hilary Duff photo
John Mayer photo
Hillary Clinton photo
Thomas Jefferson photo
Bono photo
Jonathan Haidt photo
Jacques Chirac photo

“I have been an active member of Mandela's ANC since the end of the 60's or the beginning of the 70's. Hassan II, the King of Morocco, talked me into helping fund the ANC. […] I remember that at the time, the South African President, who must have been Vorster, was putting a lot of pressure on our ministers, so that they come to South Africa. A number of French ministers accepted these invites. I too was frequently asked to go… The leaders of South Africa wanted to make us believe that the apartheid was normal, or did not exist. I declared officially and most clearly, urbi et orbi, that I wouldn't set a foot there as long as the apartheid would exist.”

Jacques Chirac (1932–2019) 22nd President of France

J'ai été militant de l'ANC de Mandela depuis la fin des années soixante, le début des années soixante-dix. J'ai été approché par Hassan II, le roi du Maroc, pour aider au financement de l'ANC. [...] Je me souviens qu'à l'époque, le président sud-africain, que devait être Vorster, exerçait d'énormes pressions auprès de nos ministres pour qu'ils viennent en Afrique du sud. Un certain nombre de ministres français ont accepté ces invitations. Moi aussi, j'ai été très sollicité... Les dirigeants de l'Afrique du Sud voulaient nous faire croire que l'apartheid était normal, ou n'existait pas. J'ai déclaré officiellement, et de la manière la plus claire, urbi et orbi que je n'y mettrais pas les pieds tant que l'apartheid existerait.
L'Inconnu de l'Élysée, Pierre Péan, Fayard, 2007, p. 8 et 9

Samuel Adams photo
Mickey Spillane photo
Marc Maron photo
Nisargadatta Maharaj photo
Anthony Burgess photo
Jack Kerouac photo
Benjamín Netanyahu photo
Stephen Vincent Benét photo
Susan Cain photo

“I prefer listening to talking, reading to socializing … I like to think before I speak”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

softly
"Susan Cain: Quiet revolutionary" speaker profile at TED.com, February 2012 (est.)

Conor McGregor photo

“You can talk about your wins and losses but at the end of the day, you’ve tasted that darkness of being KO’d stiff, and you will taste it again on March 5th.”

Conor McGregor (1988) Irish mixed martial artist and boxer

"UFC 197 press conference" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75xAdA3uVeY (January 2016), Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
2010s, 2016

Chuck Klosterman photo

“Every time you talk to this person, you lie.”

Chuck Klosterman (1972) Author, Columnist

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (2006), Recognizing Your Archenemy

Salma Hayek photo
Alice A. Bailey photo
Patrick Fitzgerald photo
Michael McIntyre photo
Ariel Sharon photo

“What I do for a living is talk. What I do for life is action.”

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 140

Thomas Fuller (writer) photo

“3358. Many talk like Philosophers, and live like Fools.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

Harold Wilson photo
Harry V. Jaffa photo