Good Words on Communication

I love collecting good quotes. I’ve been doing so for over 40 years. One subject where I have literally dozens of wonderful quotes is communication. It’s one of my passions, so I pay close attention to what great communicators have to say on the subject. Here are just a few of my favorite quotes on communication. I hope they inspire and encourage you if you’re trying to develop in that area.

“The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.”

~Joseph Priestley

“Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.”

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”

~Robert Frost

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

~Hans Hofmann

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

~William Shakespeare

“Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.”

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.”

~Stephen Covey

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”

~James Humes

“The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success.”

~James Cash Penney

“If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.”

~Dianna Booher

“There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.”

~Dale Carnegie

“One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears, by listening to them.”

~Dean Rusk

“Make sure you have stopped speaking before your audience has stopped listening.”

~Dorothy Sarnoff

“Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” 

~Franklin D. Roosevelt