Communication quotes: 70 real quotes for the workplace
Quotes about listening, clarity, feedback and conflict, each with a copy button. Every one checked against its source.
KraftyLab TeamUpdated 11 min read
The most shared quote about communication, the one about the illusion that communication has taken place, is credited to the wrong man. These 70 communication quotes for work were checked one by one against the speaker's own book, letter, speech or interview, or the sourced section of their Wikiquote page, and we kept their published wording. They're sorted by what you need: listening, saying it clearly, feedback, disagreement, leadership, writing and teamwork. After the quotes you'll find ways to use them at work, five workshop prompts, 15 lines we wrote for meeting norms and the famous lines we left out.
Communication quotes about listening
Half of communication is the half nobody practices. For a workshop opener or a one-on-one.
1
The reason that there are so few good conversationalists is that most people are thinking about what they are going to say and not about what the others are saying.
François de La Rochefoucauld, French essayist
2
The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.
Fran Lebowitz, humorist
3
We can achieve real communication and avoid this evaluative tendency when we listen with understanding.
Carl Rogers, psychologist
4
People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.
Harper Lee, novelist
5
No one would talk much in society, if he knew how often he misunderstands others.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer
6
There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all.
Rebecca West, writer
7
For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen.
Stephen Hawking, physicist
8
Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right.
Jane Goodall, primatologist
9
That silence is one of the great arts of conversation is allowed by Cicero himself, who says, there is not only an art, but even an eloquence in it.
Hannah More, writer and reformer
10
Direct thy attention to what is said.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor
The best quotes about communication: clarity and feedback
On plain words, short answers and the jargon that creeps into every team.
11
The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language.
Richard Feynman, physicist
12
What can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher
13
It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.
Aristotle, Greek philosopher
14
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.
George Orwell, essayist
15
The moment people talk of "implementing" instead of "doing," and of "finalizing" instead of "finishing," the organization is already running a fever.
Peter Drucker, management writer
16
The more we elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.
J. B. Priestley, English writer
17
The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.
Edward R. Murrow, broadcast journalist
18
The commonest, dullest, most thread-bare topic might be rendered interesting by the skill of the speaker.
Jane Austen, novelist
19
Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor
20
The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.
Voltaire, French writer
Feedback and criticism
For the review, the hard conversation and the thank-you note.
21
We all need people who will give us feedback. That's how we improve.
Bill Gates, Microsoft cofounder
22
Young people need models, not critics.
John Wooden, basketball coach
23
Most of us grew up speaking a language that encourages us to label, compare, demand, and pronounce judgements rather than to be aware of what we are feeling and needing.
Marshall Rosenberg, psychologist
24
They have a Right to censure, that have a Heart to help: The rest is Cruelty, not Justice.
William Penn, Pennsylvania founder
25
I can live on a good compliment two weeks with nothing else to eat.
Mark Twain, writer
26
People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.
W. Somerset Maugham, novelist
27
Whoever criticizes others must have something to replace them. Criticism without suggestion is like trying to stop flood with flood and put out fire with fire. It will surely be without worth.
Mozi, Chinese philosopher
28
You've got to want to be in this incredible feedback loop where you get the world-class people to tell you what you're doing wrong.
Bill Gates, Microsoft cofounder
29
This shows how much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister
30
A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.
Joseph Addison, essayist
Effective communication quotes for disagreement
On arguing well, which is not the same as winning.
31
If we aren't going to be afraid of conflict, we have to see it as thinking, and then we have to get really good at it.
Margaret Heffernan, business author
32
There are three main ways of dealing with conflict; domination, compromise and integration.
Mary Parker Follett, management thinker
33
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, French essayist
34
He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.
John Stuart Mill, philosopher
35
Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
Thomas Jefferson, third US president
36
Many can argue, not many converse.
Amos Bronson Alcott, teacher and writer
37
Be calm in arguing: for fierceness makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy.
George Herbert, poet
38
What is essential here is the presence of the spirit of dialogue, which is in short, the ability to hold many points of view in suspension, along with a primary interest in the creation of common meaning.
David Bohm, physicist
39
Ah! Don't say you agree with me. When people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
Oscar Wilde, playwright
40
A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher
Leadership quotes about communication
Leaders, broadcasters and philosophers on how people at the front talk, and how they listen.
41
In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
Stephen Covey, leadership author
42
Don't say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
43
Prove your words by your deeds.
Seneca, Roman philosopher
44
The real crucial link in the international exchange is the last three feet, which is bridged by personal contact, one person talking to another.
Edward R. Murrow, broadcast journalist
45
You cannot talk to people successfully if they think you are not interested in what they have to say or you have no respect for them.
Larry King, broadcaster
46
The art of persuasion consists as much in that of pleasing as in that of convincing, so much more are men governed by caprice than by reason!
Blaise Pascal, mathematician
47
The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech.
Confucius, Chinese philosopher
48
With words we govern men.
Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister
49
Communication can only take place among equals.
Kenneth Boulding, economist
50
In the long run there is no more exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it bravely and then act boldly.
Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and diplomat
Quotes on communication in writing
For anyone who writes emails, docs or updates, which is everyone.
51
Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.
William Zinsser, writing teacher
52
Good writing is lean and confident.
William Zinsser, writing teacher
53
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Elmore Leonard, novelist
54
I made this one longer only because I have not had the leisure to make it shorter.
Blaise Pascal, mathematician
55
Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.
Henry David Thoreau, writer
56
Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.
George Eliot, novelist
57
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
George Orwell, essayist
58
Your rule might be this: If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out.
Kurt Vonnegut, novelist
59
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.
Jonathan Swift, satirist
60
I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer and aviator
Teamwork and communication quotes
On conversation as the thing that turns a group into a team. More on working together in our teamwork quotes.
61
Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact.
Thomas Mann, novelist
62
Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking.
Stephen Hawking, physicist
63
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer and aviator
64
Community can be defined simply as a group in which free conversation can take place.
Rollo May, psychologist
65
Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love.
John Steinbeck, novelist
66
Speak not but what may benefit others or your self. Avoid trifling Conversation.
Benjamin Franklin, founding father
67
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
Joseph Addison, essayist
68
Surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish we had rather left unsaid.
Jonathan Swift, satirist
69
Conversation is the laboratory and workshop of the student.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
70
No writing has any real value which is not the expression of genuine thought and feeling.
Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and diplomat
How to use quotes about communication in the workplace
A quote gets the room's attention; the exercise or the norm after it is what changes how people talk. Four places it works, with wording you can borrow. For full exercises, see our communication activities.
To open a communication workshop. Read one quote about listening, then run a short exercise that tests it. People remember the quote better once they have felt it.“Fran Lebowitz wrote that the opposite of talking isn't listening, it's waiting. Pair up: for three minutes one of you talks about [topic], and the other may only ask questions.”
In a team charter. Put a quote above each norm so the norm has a reason. Then write the rule itself in your own plain words, short enough to repeat in a meeting.“Mary Parker Follett wrote that there are three main ways of dealing with conflict: domination, compromise and integration. Our norm: when we disagree, we look for the option that gives both sides what they need.”
In a one-on-one. Open with a quote about feedback, then ask for some first. A manager who asks for feedback before giving it makes the whole conversation easier.“Bill Gates said we all need people who will give us feedback. So I'll go first: what's one thing I could do differently that would make your week easier?”
In a manager's note before a big change. Say how you'll talk about it, not just what is changing. Then do it in person or on a call, not only in the email.“Edward R. Murrow said the crucial link is the last three feet, one person talking to another. So before [change] starts, I'll talk with each of you this week.”
Five quote-and-question prompts for a communication workshop
Each pairs a quote from this page with a question we wrote. Read the quote, give pairs five minutes to talk it through, then hear one answer from each pair.
François de La Rochefoucauld: “most people are thinking about what they are going to say and not about what the others are saying.”
When did you last notice you'd stopped listening, and what pulled you away?
Richard Feynman: “The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language.”
Which word or acronym on our team confuses new people the most?
Peter Drucker: “the organization is already running a fever.”
Which phrase do we use that hides what we really mean, and what would we say instead?
Joseph Joubert: “The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.”
Think of a recent disagreement at work. What would progress have looked like?
Rollo May: “Community can be defined simply as a group in which free conversation can take place.”
What topic is hard to raise on this team, and what would make it easier?
15 lines for meeting norms, a team charter or a manager's note
We wrote these, so they carry no name. Copy the ones that fit, then change the wording until it sounds like your team.
1
One person talks at a time, and the rest of us actually listen.
2
Ask the question you think is obvious. Someone else is wondering too.
3
Disagree with the idea, never the person.
4
If it can be an email, we send the email.
5
Every meeting ends with who does what by when.
6
Cameras optional, attention required.
7
Say “I don't know” out loud. It saves everyone time.
8
Bad news travels fast here, and nobody gets blamed for carrying it.
9
Write it short, then make it shorter.
10
Repeat back what you heard before you answer.
11
Silence in a meeting is not agreement, so we ask.
12
Feedback comes within a week, and in private first.
13
My door is open, and so is my calendar. Book any free slot.
14
Thank you for telling me. I'd rather hear it now than in a month.
15
We assume good intent and ask when something lands wrong.
Famous communication quotes we left out
You'll see these on almost every communication list. The credited name is wrong, unproven or borrowing someone else's line, so we skipped them.
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” (usually credited to George Bernard Shaw)
Wikiquote lists it under Shaw's misattributed lines: the credit traces to a 2000 management book. Quote Investigator points to William H. Whyte, who wrote in Fortune in 1950, “The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it.” That line is already on our teamwork quotes page.
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” (usually credited to Albert Einstein)
Wikiquote lists it under Einstein's misattributed lines. No one has found it in his writings, letters or interviews.
“He only has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.” (usually credited to Abraham Lincoln)
Wikiquote lists it under Lincoln's misattributed lines. It is a reworded version of a William Penn maxim from Some Fruits of Solitude, and Penn's own wording is on this page.
“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” (usually credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
It is a condensed version of a longer passage. What Emerson wrote, in Letters and Social Aims (1876), is on this page.
“Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” (usually credited to Brené Brown)
She made it famous in Dare to Lead (2018), but on her own blog that October she wrote that she first heard the saying two decades earlier in a 12-step meeting, so the line isn't hers to sign.
Practice it with your team
Reading about listening is easy. Practicing it with your team is what sticks. Each of these runs for 60 minutes with a live host on your video call, on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request). You're On Mute! helps people present and communicate on screen or in the room. Speak Up! is a hands-on public speaking workshop on structuring a message and delivering it with confidence. Fostering Emotional Intelligence is a talk by Dr. Ellen Vora on meeting challenges with empathy and resilience. Improv practices listening, “Yes, And” and answering the unexpected. Teams split across time zones can book two sessions. Book about 2 weeks ahead. For quick practice in your next meeting, try a few presentation games.
Four hosted sessions on speaking and listening, with today's prices. Get a free quote with your date and headcount.
Three of the best that are real: Richard Feynman's “The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language,” George Orwell's “Never use a long word where a short one will do” and Stephen Hawking's “Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking.” All three are in our list with a copy button.
What is a good communication quote for work?
Larry King's “You cannot talk to people successfully if they think you are not interested in what they have to say” suits a workshop or a sales team, and Peter Drucker's line about people saying “implementing” instead of “doing” is a good laugh before a jargon cleanup. To turn a quote into practice, pick one of our communication activities.
Did George Bernard Shaw say “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”?
No. Wikiquote lists it under Shaw's misattributed lines, and Quote Investigator traces the idea to William H. Whyte, who wrote in Fortune in 1950, “The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it.” Whyte's line is in our teamwork quotes.
What are some leadership quotes about communication?
Stephen Covey wrote that what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do, and Emerson made the same point a century earlier. Edward R. Murrow's “last three feet” line is a good reminder that the important messages go person to person, not by email.
What are good quotes about feedback?
Bill Gates said in a 2013 TED talk, “We all need people who will give us feedback. That's how we improve.” The Chinese philosopher Mozi warned that criticism without a suggestion is worthless, and William Penn wrote that only those with a heart to help have a right to censure. For the conversation itself, see how to give constructive feedback.
What are some teamwork and communication quotes?
Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote that good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. Rollo May defined community as a group in which free conversation can take place. More on how coworkers build that trust is in our guide to workplace relationships.
What is a good quote about the importance of communication?
Hawking's “Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking” is hard to beat, and Edward R. Murrow warned in 1964 that faster tools only speed up the old problem of what to say and how to say it. If your team needs practice saying it, try a few presentation games.
Help your team speak up and listen better
A live host runs a 60-minute communication workshop for your team on your video call. Send your date and headcount for a plan within 24 hours.
