Communication
Listening, persuading, telling stories, and speaking plainly.
So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.
Verified sourceInaugural Address · Watch at 8:54 · John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
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Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Verified sourceInaugural Address · Watch at 9:09 · John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
9:09 of 15:11All quotes from this speech →
A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy.
SourceWhy We Must Not Reelect President Bush (2004) · via Wikiquote
For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.
SourceAddress to the Officers of the Army · National Archives on Founders Online
Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.
SourceLetter to Charles M. Thruston · National Archives on Founders Online
..when one side only of a story is heard, and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it, insensibly
SourceLetter to Edmund Pendleton · National Archives on Founders Online
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.
SourceMy Life and Work (1922) · via Wikiquote
People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.
Source"Science Fiction in Steven Spielberg’s Suburbia" by Chris Hodenfield, Rolling Stone, January 26, 1978 · via Wikiquote
We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.
SourceAs quoted August 2004 in How to Be Like Walt · via Wikiquote
The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.
SourceSpeech in the House of Commons, June 10, 1941 "Defence of Crete", in The Churchill War Papers · via Wikiquote
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.
SourceQuoted in Words of Wisdom: Winston Churchill, Students' Academy, Lulu Press (2014), Section Three · via Wikiquote
To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
SourceRemarks at a White House luncheon (26 June 1954) · via Wikiquote
'No comment' is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.
SourcePost-war years (1945–1955) · via Wikiquote
Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.
SourceSpeech on receiving the London Times Literary Award November 2, 1949 · via Wikiquote
Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.
SourceSpeech (1922–1928); Complete Speeches, 1897-1963 (1974), Chelsea House, Vol. IV, p. 3462 · via Wikiquote
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn't make it a leg.
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.
Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
Never regret what you don't write.
When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.
The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.
Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech.
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.
The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.
Issues are never simple. One thing I'm proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.
Let me even say before I even get inaugurated, during the transition we are going to be having meetings all across the country with community organizations so that you have input into the agenda for the next presidency of the United States of America.
I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in.
I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.
Teaching's hard! You need different skills: positive reinforcement, keeping students from getting bored, commanding their attention in a certain way.
I'm going to save my public voice largely for the issues where I have some depth.
I do love email. Wherever possible I try to communicate asynchronously. I'm really good at email.
In order to have your voice be heard in Washington, you have to make some little contribution.
Here in the West, people often don't like listening to their leaders, even if they are right.
I like the word 'autopilot' more than I like the word 'self-driving.' 'Self-driving' sounds like it's going to do something you don't want it to do. 'Autopilot' is a good thing to have in planes, and we should have it in cars.
A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.
Storytelling is about two things; it's about character and plot.
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.
I want to stress the importance of being fair to our readers. You should not impose your own view and prejudice on the readers and try to lead them to a conclusion. As a reader, I understand what a fair report is.
What a publication can do is to help people get a clearer picture without jumping to any rash conclusion. I'm very happy that the 'Post' can take the responsibility to report on China in a broader and deeper way. I believe the 'Post' must be fair to our readers. We should let our readers see China from more angles and perspectives.
I believe the most important thing for the media is to be objective, fair, and balanced. We should not report a story with preconceptions or prejudice.
The more I come to know about the outside world's perception of China, the more I feel there are all sorts of misunderstandings, and to a certain extent, people do not get the full picture from the media. A lot of foreigners have few opportunities to visit China, and a lot of Chinese people do not have the chance to go to Europe or to the West.
I think U.S. and Chinese businesses need a common language and dialogue.
You know, we love stories and we love narrative; we love to get lost in an author's world.
I'm the one guy who says don't force the stupid people to be quiet. I want to know who the morons are.
In the past, people used to tell me to shut up a bit. But what I believe is to put out your opinion and let everyone else react. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
If the pitch starts with a sob story, I'm out. If the pitch talks about personal issues, I'm out. If the pitch starts off with how big the market opportunity is, I'm out. If the pitch tells me what is unique about the product, how it can make a profit, and it's an area where I have expertise, I will read on.
When you post something, when you text something, you lose ownership of it when you hit enter or send. Who you send it to, where you post it, they take ownership of that information whether you like it or not. Unfortunately, you don't lose responsibility for that text or post.
Whatever you can say in a meeting, you can put in an email. If I have questions, I'll tell you via email.
Leaders don't change their positions mid-debate. They welcome scorn from the masses because it creates the opportunity for dialogue.
Social media is just a platform. Twitter is a very simple and immediate broadcast platform. Facebook is a very personal, when it comes to friends and when it comes to fan pages, a little bit less but still somewhat personal way to communicate.
In my mind, a good leader would say, 'OK, I need to sit down and talk to the guys who oppose me. Let me let them voice their opinions; let me get their thought process.'
I think people are tired of politics as usual. We're tired of everything being scripted; we're tired of every comment being politically correct.
Facebook is really about communicating and telling stories... We think that people can really help spread awareness of organ donation and that they want to participate in this to their friends. And that can be a big part of helping solve the crisis that's out there.
Look at the way celebrities and politicians are using Facebook already. When Ashton Kutcher posts a video, he gets hundreds of pieces of feedback. Maybe he doesn't have time to read them all or respond to them all, but he's getting good feedback and getting a good sense of how people are thinking about that and maybe can respond to some of it.
I always thought I would be a teacher. And I think I actually lived up to my initial dreams, because what I do now is teach millions and millions of people many different kinds of things.
My daughter emails me. When your daughter starts to email you instead of talk to you... It's horrible. You cannot forget human communication.
There's a lot of chatter in basketball and, rightfully, you want players to be talking to each other... But sometimes in practice, it gets too verbose... so I tried to take things out of the ordinary and make them special so they'd understand the difference.
Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader; you have to listen to the people who are on the front line.
When we launched a new company, I reviewed the ads and marketing materials and asked those presenting the campaign to read everything aloud to test the phrasing and concept. If I could grasp it quickly, then it passed with muster. We would get our message across only if it was understandable at first glance.
When I was a kid, I had a tendency to criticize. But when I did, my mum would whisk me off to the bathroom to stand in front of a mirror. Ten minutes, never less. To think about how criticism is a poor reflection on the one who criticizes.
I'm very active on social media and see the huge impact it has on engaging with fans and being able to have a voice.
The most amazing thing for me is that every single person who sees a movie, not necessarily one of my movies, brings a whole set of unique experiences. Now, through careful manipulation and good storytelling, you can get everybody to clap at the same time, to hopefully laugh at the same time, and to be afraid at the same time.
I always think if it's a good story, the audience can't wait to run out of the theater and go tweet somebody with the gist of a story, in a nutshell, almost, because it was that interesting.
The bones of the story of 'War Horse' is a love story. That's what makes it universal.
Audience members are only concerned about the story, the concept, the bells and whistles and the noise that a popular film starts to make even before it's popular. So audiences will not be drawn to the technology; they'll be drawn to the story. And I hope it always remains that way.
If I have something to say, I want it to be meaningful.
Talk is over-rated as a means of settling disputes.
I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.
Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.
The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.
A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure.
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