“The way you communicate an idea is different than the way you communicate a product.”
Saying what you mean is harder than it sounds. These quotes explore language, listening, honesty, and the art of making yourself understood — whether you are giving a speech, writing an email, or just trying to have a real conversation.
“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication.”
“The way you communicate an idea is different than the way you communicate a product.”
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said.”
“A monopoly on the means of communication may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of monopoly in the means of production.”
“The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary.”
“The desire to write grows with writing.”
“The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.”
“I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in.”
“I like television. I still believe that television is the most powerful form of communication on Earth - I just hate what is being done with it.”
“A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.”
“We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear as potential causes of war until communication is permitted to flow, free and open, across international boundaries.”
“I speak onstage to try to establish some method of communication. The songs are supposed to be a way of communicating. But speech and drinks and sometimes chocolates are also a way of communicating.”
“Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.”
“Being a good Hans Haacke student, part of his influence on me is that there's no difference between a gallery show and a film - or even an ad and a T-shirt-in terms of cultural legitimacy. They're just different contexts in which to have some sort of communication.”
“I don't understand why people whose entire lives or their corporate success depends on communication, and yet they are led on occasion by CEOs who cannot talk their way out of a paper bag and don't care to.”
“The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.”