The opposite of talking is not listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.

It's not necessary to tell all you know.

Would you like to be a brilliant conversationalist? Just give your natural enthusiasm free reign and say whatever comes into your head. Your rashness will be taken for extraordinary courage.

A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years' study of books.

Avoid witticisms at the expense of others.

The fullest instruction, and the fullest enjoyment are never derived from books, till we have ventilated the ideas thus obtained in free and easy chat with others.

In a discussion, the difficulty lies, not in being able to defend your opinion, but to know it.

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

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.

A gentleman never heard the story before.