Dialogue Quotes

“So what am I supposed to do?"
"Your worst, of course.”
― Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow

“Their remarks and responses were like a Ping-Pong game with each volley clearing the net and flying back to the opposition. The sense of what they were saying became lost, and only the exercise remained. The exchange was conducted with the certainty of a measured hoedown and had the jerkiness of Monday's wash snapping in the wind—now cracking east, then west, with only the intent to whip the dampness out of the cloth.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Stay away from St. Augustine: skillfully formulated subjectivity is not theology, not by a long shot, and it's harmful to young souls. Nothing but journalism with a few dialectical features. You won't take offense at this advice?"
"No," I said, "I shall immediately go and throw my St. Augustine into the fire."
"That's right," he said almost jubilantly, "into the fire with him. God bless you." I was on the point of saying Thank you, but it didn't seem appropriate, so I merely hung up and wiped the sweat off my face.”
― Heinrich Böll, The Clown

“When conversing, some people regularly stop talking, not to listen, but to rest their tongues.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Dialogue is often confused with something quite different: the feverish exchange of opinions on social networks, frequently based on media information that is not always reliable. These exchanges are merely parallel monologues. They may attract some attention by their sharp and aggressive tone. But monologues engage no one, and their content is frequently self-serving and contradictory.”
― Pope Francis

“SERVANT. Have mercy upon your servant, my queen!

QUEEN. The assembly is over and my servants are all gone. Why do you come at this late hour?

SERVANT. When you have finished with others, that is my time.
I come to ask what remains for your last servant to do.

QUEEN. What can you expect when it is too late?

SERVANT. Make me the gardener of your flower garden.

QUEEN. What folly is this?

SERVANT. I will give up my other work.
I will throw my swords and lances down in the dust. Do not send me to distant courts; do not bid me undertake new conquests.
But make me the gardener of your flower garden.

QUEEN. What will your duties be?

SERVANT. The service of your idle days.
I will keep fresh the grassy path where you walk in the morning, where your feet will be greeted with praise at every step by the flowers eager for death.
I will swing you in a swing among the branches of the saptaparna, where the early evening moon will struggle to kiss your skirt through the leaves.
I will replenish with scented oil the lamp that burns by your bedside, and decorate your footstool with sandal and saffron paste in wondrous designs.

QUEEN. What will you have for your reward?

SERVANT. To be allowed to hold your little fists like tender lotus-buds and slip flower chains over your wrists; to tinge the soles of your feet with the red juice of ashoka petals and kiss away the speck of dust that may chance to linger there.

QUEEN. Your prayers are granted, my servant, you will be the gardener of my flower garden.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener

“In their vlogs, these kids were embodying the very truth that I as a writer am often desperate to deny: that our words fail us. They fail us brutally. The gap between the experience in our head and the articulation of that experience in our words is vast and disappointing.”
― Bo Burnham

“Kunskapsnivån i landet är så otroligt hög att ingen längre tycker det är nån idé att höra på när nån annan pratar.”
― Tage Danielsson, Samlade tankar från roten

“Where are you taking me?” Raziel asked through a mouthful of food.

“Wherever I desire.”

“And what do you desire, ma’am?” the boy retorted, swallowing.

“That you be silent.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“I can imagine”
― Alexander Wales, Worth the Candle

“Refugees are here because they have no choice. They also bring enormous gifts and talents, as Tung did. They just need an opportunity. I hope our story inspires others to understand that people from different backgrounds can find common ground if we just listen to each other. We can all be bigger than our individual selves. We all have tremendous power to change the lives of others and help the world become more mixed and accepting ... Everyone can get to know people who are different than they are. Everyone can help where they see a need. We all have stories to tell, and the best thing we can do for ourselves and the world is to listen to each other.”
― Tung Nguyen, Mango and Peppercorns: A Memoir of Food, an Unlikely Family, and the American Dream

“It looks as if neither of us will ever convince the other. But do we need to?"
"No, the other person only needs to listen and understand."
"I can accept that."

- The Hothouse”
― Tove Jansson, Travelling Light

“O that we were wise, Ion, and that you could truly call us so; but you rhapsodes and actors, and the poets whose verses you sing, are wise; whereas I am a common man, who only speaks the truth. For consider what a very commonplace and trivial things this which I have said - a thing which any man might say: that when a man has acquired a knowledge of a whole art, the enquiry into good and bad is one and the same.”
― Plato, Ion

“Defeating with dialogue is the certification of wisdom and insight.”
― Ehsan Sehgal

“I mean, listen. They practiced a crippling soul addiction to stay flawless.” Mason pointed out and then observed his forehead and shifted his jaw to each side.
“They were such victims. In the end, they wrinkled away no matter how much money they threw in.”

This time, it was Valis who started laughing.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me, are you flattering yourself? You see them as victims of vanity. So much for your own self-awareness.” He joked.

Mason lifted his eyes and glanced at him through the stained mirror.

“What do you mean?”

“In today’s standard, you’re the equivalent of someone laminated like a business card.”
― Adryan Gyllklint, Primal Matters (First Edition)

“Dalam hidup Mawaddah, kebanyakan perbualan hanya dibuat dalam bentuk tulisan dalam Whatsapp. Apabila semua emosi sudah terbiasa diterjemah ke dalam bentuk tulisan, emosi daripada suara kedengaran terlalu istimewa.”
― Auni Zainal, Mawaddah Ilmi Ingin Pulang

“In a democratic system, the medium of dialogue is the best medium for not allowing the debate to become a dispute.”
― Ramnath Kovind

“Following his rant littered with narcissism, she calmly responded, '...You have quite the little ego, don't you?' And with little thought, he then quickly retorted, 'What do you mean 'little'!?”
― Criss Jami

“When words fail, then real language arrives, that rare guest.”
― Carolyn Chun, How to Break Article Noun

“If you persist over time, refusing to take offense, making your motive genuine, showing respect, and constantly searching for Mutual Purpose, then the other person will almost always join you in dialogue.”
― Kerry Patterson, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

“How can we possibly act curious when others are either attacking us or heading for cover? People who routinely seek to find out why others are feeling unsafe do so because they have learned that getting at the source of fear and discomfort is the best way to return to dialogue. Either they’ve seen others do it or they’ve stumbled on the formula themselves. Either way, they realize that the cure to silence or violence isn’t to respond in kind, but to get at the underlying source. This calls for genuine curiosity—at a time when you’re likely to be feeling frustrated or angry.”
― Kerry Patterson, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

“Well, look who it is! Our very own Lady Shakespeare!” Reed exclaims, feigning a terrible British accent.
“You know, that’s not going to get old at all,” I comment.
“Shall I not compare thee to a summer’s day, then?” Reed asks.
“Oh, please don’t.”
― Jacqueline E. Smith

“A war of words will allow more dialogue than what a war with bullets ever will.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“You're whiplash," she whispered.”
― Caroline B. Cooney, Twins

“- De dragul științei, a explicat ea, lucru pe care îl spunea adesea chiar înainte ca lucrurile să explodeze.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Sorcery of Thorns

“Only through diversity of opinion is there, in the existing state of the human intellect, a chance of fair play to all sides of the truth.”
― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

“– Prometo que se me chamar de “meu amor", eu virei imediatamente. Mas, por enquanto, pode me chamar de Jim.”
― Natalia Avila, A Falsificadora de Mapas

“– Isabel – sua voz é doce, mas continuo com a cabeça baixa. – Se eu roubei o seu coração, é porque tu roubaste o meu também.”
― Natalia Avila, Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha

“How can I enter into dialogue if I always project ignorance onto others and ignore my own? How can I enter into dialogue if I regard myself as a case apart from other men [sic]?”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“At the point of encounter there are neither yet ignoramuses nor perfect sages; there are only people who are attempting, together, to learn more than they now know.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed