The Best Quotes About Communication
I've collected thousands of quotes over the past 10+ years.
Here are the best ones I've found so far about communication...
"Basically, if someone is using a lot of fancy words and a lot of big concepts, they probably don't know what they're talking about. I think the smartest people can explain things to a child. If you can't explain it to a child, then you don't know it." -Naval Ravikant
"Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue." -Zeno
"Brevity is confidence. Length is fear." -Axios
"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools speak because they have to say something." -Plato
"Changing minds and hearts can have more impact than physical change. A great speech can do the work of a thousand soldiers." -Derek Sivers
"Concrete language helps people, especially novices, understand new concepts. Abstraction is the luxury of the expert." -Chip and Dan Heath
"A person can have the greatest idea in the world...but if that person can't convince enough other people, it doesn't matter." -Gregory Berns
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"An expert on speaking also knows when not to." -Archimedes
"Being a mediocre conversationalist is easy. Being a good conversationalist is hard." -David Brooks
"I begin to speak only when I'm certain what I'll say isn't better left unsaid." -Cato the Younger
"If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame." -Sun Tzu
"In any human interaction, the required amount of communication is inversely proportional to the level of trust. If I trust you completely, then I require no explanation or communication of your actions at all, because I know that whatever you are doing is in my best interests." -Ben Horowitz
"Silence is a momentary magnet that draws an audience in with what isn't said." -Joseph McCormack
"Speak confidently as if you are right, but listen carefully as if you are wrong." -Kevin Kelly
"Stories are just data with a soul." -Brené Brown
"The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish." -Robert Greene
"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that is has taken place." -George Bernard Shaw
"To communicate clearly, you have to think clearly. Writing is refined thinking. Public speaking tests your writing on a real audience. Great public speaking comes from great private thinking." -Derek Sivers
"When you are tired of saying it, people are starting to hear it." -Jeff Weiner
"Your mission in any presentation is to inform, educate, and inspire. You can only inspire when you give people a new way of looking at the world in which they live." -Robert Ballard
“If you have to tell someone the same thing ten times, the idea probably wasn’t very well designed. No urban legend has to be repeated ten times.” -Chip and Dan Heath
"When speaking to an audience, pause frequently. Pause before you say something in a new way, pause after you have said something you believe is important, and pause as a relief to let listeners absorb details." -Kevin Kelly
“If you want to leave them wanting more, you need to say less.” -Joseph McCormack
“It is my ambition to say in 10 sentences what others say in a whole book.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
“So here’s the irony. It’s the most talented, not the least talented, who are continually trying to improve their dialogue skills. As is often the case, the rich get richer.” -Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
