Comms Quotes of Notes
When asked, through the Exchange Listserve to share some of their pithiest, most
compelling, incredibly inspiring quotes about communications, here is how members
of The Exchange responded. As Author Julio Cortázar said in his book, Around the
Day in Eighty Worlds, “In quoting others, we cite ourselves.”
Shared by Tracy Benson, Kathryn Yates:
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
George Bernard Shaw
Shared by Ted Pile
It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much.
Yogi Berra
Shared by Beth Swanson:
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
Ernest Hemingway
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference
between lightning and a lightning bug.
Mark Twain
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
William Butler Yeats
The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.
Stephen King
Shared by Michael Zimet, who found this quote in a fortune cookie after starting his
first job at IBM:
Communication is the lifeblood of all relationships.
Shared by Jacqueline Bucher:
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus
Shared by Ron Fuchs:
The art of communication is the language of leadership.
James Humes
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Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep
after.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Two monologues do not make a dialogue.
Jeff Daly
Shared by Susan Bradbury:
Keep it simple, interactive, timely, and relevant.
Unknown
Shared by Rich Jefferson:
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing
it.
Chinese proverb
Shared by Hannah Bauer:
You want to know what’s wrong with your email? Hit send.
Eric Witchey
Shared by Jennefer Witter:
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
Cool Hand Luke
Shared by Heather Rim, who said this is a quote often cited at Avery Dennison:
Create a movement, not a moment.
Unknown
Shared by Helen Cameron:
Not communicating is a very loud, powerful form of communication.
Unknown
Shared by Barry Mike:
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said.
Peter Drucker
Shared by Rebecca Carter:
You can have it quick, good or cheap. Pick any two, but you can't have all three.
Unknown
Shared by Michelle Ghorbanian:
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No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.
Robin Williams
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa
Shared by Alexandra Gallo:
The void created by a failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel and
misrepresentation.
C.N. Parkinson
Next week there can’t be a crisis. My calendar is already full.
Henry Kissinger
Communication is everyone’s panacea for everything.
Tom Peters
WARNING: Dates in a project plan are closer than they appear.
Unknown
When someone says, “it’s not the money, it’s the principle,” it’s the money.
Unknown
We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.
A Nin
Before you inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you
can move them to tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself
believe.
W. Church
The problem is this. No spreadsheet, no bibliography, and no list of resources is
sufficient proof to someone who chooses not to believe. The skeptic will always find
a reason, even if the rest of us don’t think it is a good one. Relying too much on proof
distracts you from the real mission – which is emotional connection.
Seth Godin
The audience does not need to tune themselves to you – you need to tune your
message to them.
Nancy Duarte
More than any time in history mankind faces a cross roads. One path leads to
despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the
wisdom to choose correctly.
Woody Allen
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Shared by Rob Hallam, who cited it as a recent quote from his boss to the
company’s leadership team:
Don't tell me all you know. Tell me what I need to know.
Shared by Zachary Johnson:
People overestimate what we can accomplish in one year, but underestimate what
we can accomplish in 10.
Unknown
Shared by Tina Hrevus, who said this was an employee’s reply of what they
expected from internal communications:
Be brief, be brilliant, be gone.
Shared by Cari Rutkoskie:
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
Shared by Jim Shaffer:
Nobody buys communication.
One of my early bosses said this to point out that people don’t buy communication
any more than they buy gasoline for their cars. In both cases – fuel for the car and
communication – people are really buying the ability to get to a destination. That
inspired me to focus on the results well managed communication can deliver – not
the process.
You can’t not communicate.
Unknown
Shared by Matt Evans:
Trying to get a message across to every employee in an organization is a lot like
trying to control kids in a school bus: some will listen; some will hear but
misunderstand the message; and some will ignore the message altogether and later
complain, “But nobody told me.”
Paul Chin
Shared by Fred Droz:
An imperfect execution today is better than a perfect execution next week.
Unknown
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Shared by Les Landes:
The use of buzzwords anesthetizes you to the truth.
Warren Bennis
Dialogue is the oxygen of change.
Jim Haudan
Propaganda ends where dialogue begins.
Marshall McLuhan
An individual without information cannot take responsibility. An individual with
information cannot help but take responsibility.
Jan Carlzon
Shared by Chris Mykrantz:
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 two words ‘information’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably, but
they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting
through.
Sydney Harris
Shared by Liz Guthridge:
Actions speak louder than words.
Unknown
Shared by Mark Schumann:
Start with truth (and then edit).
Unknown
Shared by Jeff Brooke:
If the words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly
understood, the general is to blame.
Sun Tzu
Shared by John Clemons:
NOTHING can be accomplished without communication.
Unknown
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Shared by John Jensen:
If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?
Will Rogers
If you want to be successful it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what
you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.
Will Rogers
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