324 quotes found
“Literature does not occur in a vacuum. It cannot be a monologue. It has to be a conversation, and new people, new readers, need to be brought into the conversation too.”
“Everybody talks, but there is no conversation.”
“Talking about one's feelings defeats the purpose of having those feelings. Once you try to put the human experience into words, it becomes little more than a spectator sport. Everything must have a...”
“I appricated that Nell was talking to me like a grown-up, but I had no idea what she meant. Still, I could see that the words flowed together like water over a riverbed.”
“There are words which close a conversation as with an iron door.”
“Conversations are like dances. Two people effortlessly move in step with one another, usually anticipating the other person's next move. If one of the dancers moves in an unexpected direction, the ...”
“You stuttered like a kaleidoscope, because you knew too many words.”
“People can go on telling themselves things like Think before you speak! or You dont believe that yourself or Forget it! But they can also say, Oh, what lovely flowers! or Are you a phone freak or s...”
“I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people's cars. I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn't know me and I didn't know anyb...”
“Success largely depends on the relationships you build along the journey.”
“Shocked my old friend from China, Deja Vu, when I turned up at his door without notice.”
“I think I only appear smart by staying quiet as often as possible.”
“For, let me tell you that the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me are the pleasure and charm of conversation.”
“This, I believe, is the appropriate image of human intercourse -- appropriate because it recognizes the qualities, the diversities, and the proper relationships of human utterances. As civilized hu...”
“It was our first date and I asked what his favorite movie is. He asked if Id judge him, but instead of judging him I just loved him.”
“You should really smile more Miss. Smiling Is overrated. my voice as sharp as a knife, my voice deadpanned, as I sulked at the wall.”
“Why should conversation always be so much more coherent than experience?”
“I am beginning to worry that my speech is becoming a rather incomprehensible mixture of a Victorian woman, an Australian Beach Bum and a Laddish city boy”
“Most adults have a vocabulary of around 60,000 words, meaning that children must learn 10 to 20 words a day between the ages of eight months and 18 years. And yet the most frequent 100 words accoun...”
“The topics which language limits us to arent much worth discussing in the first place.(attrib: F.L. Vanderson)”
