Never ask anyone over 70 how they feel. They’ll tell you.

Never find fault with the absent.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

How to drive a guy crazy: send him a telegram and on the top put ‚page 2.‘

I make friends faster and easier than journalists.

The more you know the less you need to say.

If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.

Anybody can be specific and obvious. That’s always been the easy way. It’s not that it’s so difficult to be unspecific and less obvious; it’s just that there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, to be specific and obvious about.

You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.

A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.

Saying nothing… sometimes says the most.

I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

Tell the children the truth.

If you can’t answer a man’s arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.

When you really don’t like a guy, they’re all over you, and as soon as you act like you like them, they’re no longer interested.

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.

Proselytism is solemn nonsense; it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.

People like to hear the word ‚love.‘

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

At my advanced age – I’m now an octogenarian – I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who want to take my picture.

There is one way to have a short but exciting conversation with me, and that is to move too slow.

The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.

The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.

We think when God speaks to us, there’s going to be a boom out of Heaven or we’re going to get some chill bumps, but I really believe God’s talking to us all the time. He’s talking to us right in here. I call it our heart, our conscience, but it’s the Holy Spirit talking to us.

The writing is important, but the way you say the line and the pause you give it, the facial expression – all of that is very important.

The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

One thing that I tell people all the time is, ‚I’m not going to answer a call from you after nine o’clock at night or before nine o’clock in the morning unless it’s an emergency.‘

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

Frank and explicit – that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and confuse the minds of others.

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.

Listening has importance only when one is not projecting one’s own desires through which one listens.

Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

The prospect of dating someone in her twenties becomes less appealing as you get older. At some point in your life, your tolerance level goes down and you realize that, with someone much younger, there’s nothing really to talk about.

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

Occasionally I’ve seen children become heavy-handed and insensitive when dealing with their aging parents, and it only caused resentment and hard feelings.

There can be no doubt that the average man blames much more than he praises. His instinct is to blame. If he is satisfied he says nothing; if he is not, he most illogically kicks up a row.

Sometimes when you take strong stands, if you’re not called to do it, you’re dividing the audience you’re trying to reach.

One might say that our words are a movie screen that reveals what we have been thinking and the attitudes we have.

Diplomacy is the art of saying ‚Nice doggie‘ until you can find a rock.

Speak low, if you speak love.

I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

When I talk to kids, I’m really listening. When I do that, we have a little bit of a bigger connection than me being Kendrick Lamar and you being a student. It’s almost like we’re friends. Because a friend listens.

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

We can’t just choose to tell some facts and not others because we don’t want to upset people. We have to tell it like it is.

I let the dog out, or I let him in, and we talk some. I let him know I like him, and he lets me know he likes me.

Kids are watching us. I experience it every single day. They hang on my every word, what I wear, what I say.

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it’s always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.

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.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.

All knowledge which ends in words will die as quickly as it came to life, with the exception of the written word: which is its mechanical part.

When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out.

It’s considered acceptable in our culture to approach perfect strangers, as often or not who may be in extremis, and evangelise. I don’t see why that’s considered a normal thing.