Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.

The opposite of talking is not listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. -Fran Lebowitz.

The opposite of talking is not listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. -Fran Lebowitz.

It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and another to hear. -Thoreau.

It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and another to hear. -Thoreau.

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.

An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's read more

An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's own prejudices, frames of reference and desires so as to experience as far as possible the speaker's world from the inside, step in inside his or her shoes. This unification of speaker and listener is actually and extension and enlargement of ourselves, and new knowledge is always gained from this. Moreover, since true listening involves bracketing, a setting aside of the self, it also temporarily involves a total acceptance of the other. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will fell less and less vulnerable and more and more inclined to open up the inner recesses of his or her mind to the listener. As this happens, speaker and listener begin to appreciate each other more and more, and the duet dance of love is begun again. -M. Scott Peck.

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force...When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold read more

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force...When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life...When we listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other...and it is this little creative fountain inside us that begins to spring and cast up new thoughts and unexpected laughter and wisdom. ...Well, it is when people really listen to us, with quiet facinated attention, that the little fountain begins to work again, to accelerate in the most surprising way. -Brenda Ueland.