AtomicQuote

Alexander McCall Smith Quote

How often have I noticed or, indeed, listened to him? We talk, but do I actually listen, or is our conversation mainly a question of my waiting for him to stop and for it to be my turn to say something? For how many of us is that what conversation means - the setting up of our lines?

Alexander McCall Smith

How often have I noticed or, indeed, listened to him? We talk, but do I actually listen, or is our conversation mainly a question of my waiting for him to stop and for it to be my turn to say something? For how many of us is that what conversation means - the setting up of our lines?

Tags: listening

Related Quotes

Focus your attention on the quality of your words, and not the quantity, because few sensible talks attracts millions of listeners more than a thousand gibberish.

Michael Bassey Johnson

Focus your attention on the quality of your words, and not the quantity, because few sensible talks attracts millions of listeners more than a thousand gibberish.

Tags: attention, audience, be wise, brain, brains, cheap, communication, discussion, few, focus

You’ve got to be driven to become successful.

Chris Murray

You’ve got to be driven to become successful.

Tags: achievement and attitude, achievement gap, achievements, achieving dreams, achieving excellence, achieving mastery, achieving success, arriving, business, doing

Everything would have been for nothing just because I simply didn’t listen.

Chris Murray

Everything would have been for nothing just because I simply didn’t listen.

Tags: achievement and attitude, achievement gap, achievements, achieving dreams, achieving excellence, achieving mastery, achieving success, arriving, business, doing

From listening comes wisdom and from speaking repentance.

Italian proverb

From listening comes wisdom and from speaking repentance.

Tags: listening, repentance, apology

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

Graham Speechley

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

Tags: communication, famous leadership, great leadership, inspirational leadership, listening, nonverbal communication, about leadership, on leadership

Sometimes your belief system is really your fears attached to rules.

Shannon L. Alder

Sometimes your belief system is really your fears attached to rules.

Tags: accountability, anxiety, barriers, belief systems, beliefs, beliefs in yourself, blinded, blindsighted, boundaries, brainwashed

Sometimes, it is how you shine in the darkness during other people's misery that is remembered more than anything you could have said or done when you have suffered just as much.

Shannon L. Alder

Sometimes, it is how you shine in the darkness during other people's misery that is remembered more than anything you could have said or done when you have suffered just as much.

Tags: beautiful mind, beautiful spirit, blessed, christ, courage, diamonds, emotional abuse, good person, goodness, hacked

Don't bother to ring a bell in the ear that doesn't listen. Move to another ear, and if he doesn't listen to your bell, sit back and listen to his nemesis.

Michael Bassey Johnson

Don't bother to ring a bell in the ear that doesn't listen. Move to another ear, and if he doesn't listen to your bell, sit back and listen to his nemesis.

Tags: advice, behaviour, bell, characters, cliche, idiosyncracy, listening, mediocre people, michael bassey johnson, minding your own business

Nothing changes until people decide to do the things they must, in order to bring about peace.

Shannon L. Alder

Nothing changes until people decide to do the things they must, in order to bring about peace.

Tags: apologizing, closure, communication, empathy, ending it, forgiving, letting go, listening, offering hope, peace

The Anatomy of Conflict:If there is no communication then there is no respect. If there is no respect then there is no caring. If there is no caring then there is no understanding. If there is no unde...

Shannon L. Alder

The Anatomy of Conflict:If there is no communication then there is no respect. If there is no respect then there is no caring. If there is no caring then there is no understanding. If there is no unde...

Tags: adversity, caring, communication is key, conflict resolution, connecting, counseling, discussing, discussions, explaining, forgiving
About Alexander McCall Smith

Sir Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith (born 24 August 1948) is a Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The "McCall" derives from his great-great-grandmother Bethea McCall, who married James Smith at Glencairn, Dumfries-shire, in 1833.