#listening

When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening. ↗

— Banana Yoshimoto

#money

I've learned to get really good at this - say one thing when I'm thinking about something else, act like I'm listening when I'm not, pretend to be calm and happy when I'm really freaking out. It's one of the skills you perfect as you get older ↗

— Lauren Oliver

#listening #pretending #acting

So many words get lost. They leave the mouth and lose their courage, wandering aimlessly until they are swept into the gutter like dead leaves. On rainy days, you can hear their chorus rushing past: IwasabeautifulgirlPleasedon’tgoItoobelievemybodyismadeofglass-I’veneverlovedanyoneIthinkofmyselfasfunnyForgiveme…. There was a time when it wasn’t uncommon to use a piece of string to guide words that otherwise might falter on the way to their destinations. Shy people carried a little bunch of string in their pockets, but people considered loudmouths had no less need for it, since those used to being overheard by everyone were often at a loss for how to make themselves heard by someone. The physical distance between two people using a string was often small; sometimes the smaller the distance, the greater the need for the string. The practice of attaching cups to the ends of string came much later. Some say it is related to the irrepressible urge to press shells to our ears, to hear the still-surviving echo of the world’s first expression. Others say it was started by a man who held the end of a string that was unraveled across the ocean by a girl who left for America. When the world grew bigger, and there wasn’t enough string to keep the things people wanted to say from disappearing into the vastness, the telephone was invented. Sometimes no length of string is long enough to say the thing that needs to be said. In such cases all the string can do, in whatever its form, is conduct a person’s silence. ↗

— Nicole Krauss

#love #poignant #courage

We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans. ↗

— Max Beerbohm

#american #american dream #dream #dreams #listening

For me the march was a labor - a labor of love - but I was busy handing out flyers for the National Association of Black Social Workers, so I really wasn't standing in the crowd listening and observing. I was busy. ↗

— Andre Braugher

#black #busy #crowd #flyers #handing

When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear. ↗

— Buddha

#dislike #evil #fear #feeling #feelings

You can make positive deposits in your own economy every day by reading and listening to powerful, positive, life-changing content and by associating with encouraging and hope-building people. ↗

— Zig Ziglar

#day #deposits #economy #encouraging #every

I was growing up listening to Queen. Freddie Mercury threw those incredible melodies into his songs. ↗

— Gary Cherone

#freddie #freddie mercury #growing #growing up #his

Obamacare represents a shocking display of political arrogance. It's about time Washington started listening to Americans' common sense voices. ↗

— Fred Upton

#arrogance #common #common sense #display #listening

I say it with my tongue firmly planted in cheek but there's truth to it - being a comedian is very close to being a therapist. When you're working smaller clubs, you're listening. You're feeling an energy, you're going with a tone but when people start yelling out, you almost start a conversation with people. ↗

— Dane Cook

#being #cheek #close #clubs #comedian