Communication quotes
2.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside communication — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"You cannot speak that which you do not know. You cannot share that which you do not feel. You cannot translate that which you do not have. And you cannot give that which you do not possess. To give it and to share it, and for it to be effective, you first need to have it. Good communication starts with good preparation."
"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."
"The key ingredient in family communication is listening, really listening."
"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak."
"You can't put down anybody. You can just try and understand. The emphasis shouldn't be on revolution, it should be on communication. Because it's just going to get more uptight. The more the revolution goes on, and there will be a civil war sooner or later."
"Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few."
"Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone."
"I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side."
"Meaning is made in conversation, reality is created in communication, and knowledge is generated through social interaction.... Language is the vehicle through which we create our understanding of the world."
"Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication."
"Knowledge is power, which is why people who had it in the past often tried to make a secret of it. In post-capitalism, power comes from transmitting information to make it productive, not from hiding it."
"The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech."
"Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones."
"If you complain of people being shot down in the streets, of the absence of communication or social responsibility, of the rise of everyday violence which people have become accustomed to, and the dehumanization of feelings, then the ultimate development on an organized social level is the concentration camp... The concentration camp is the final expression of human separateness and its ultimate consequence. It is organized abandonment."
"In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet."
"The internet is changing all forms of communication, and this definitely includes political communication."
"The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication."
"Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."
"The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success."
"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere. Lee Iacocca Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."
