Quotes on Conversation

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative. Oscar Wilde

Conversation should touch everything, but should concentrate itself on nothing. Oscar Wilde

My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company. Jane Austen

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet. Truman Capote

A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.  Mark Twain

Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed. Robert C. Gallagher

As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction. Stan Getz

Conceit causes more conversation than wit. Francois de La Rochefoucauld 

Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know. Andre Maurois

Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood. William Shakespeare

Two monologues do not make a dialogue. Jeff Daly

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness. Margaret Millar

Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if he kept his mouth shut. Anonymous

It is all right to hold a conversation but you should let go of it now and then. Richard Armour

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much. Yogi Berra

Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation. Mark Twain

Love without conversation is impossible. Mortimer Adler

Marriage is one long conversation, chequered by disputes. Robert Louis Stevenson

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. Christopher Morley

Polite conversation is rarely either. Fran Lebowitz

Oh, I could spend my life having this conversation - look - please try to understand before one of us dies. John Cleese

The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is perfectly well pleased with you. Jean de la Bruyere

The primary use of conversation is to satisfy the impulse to talk. George Santayana

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries. René Descartes

A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month's study of books. Chinese Proverb

The reason so few people are agreeable in conversation is that each is thinking more about what he intends to say than what others are saying. Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all. How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation? Guy de Maupassant

Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory. Emily Post