Sunday, October 30, 2011

Top Ten Communication Quotes



My Ten Favorite Communication Quotes
  1.  "One cannot not communicate."   Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin and Don Jackson
  2. “Every communication has a content and relationship level…” Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin and Don Jackson
  3.  “The belief that one's own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.”   Paul Watzlawick 
  4.  Effective communication depends on the “acknowledgement of differences” in perception.  William Haney (In other words, “There is no such thing as an immaculate perception” – Jonah   Lehrer)
  5.   “Human thinking depends on metaphor” Jonathan Haidt
  6. "If ... [we] define situations as real , they are real in their consequences." W.I. Thomas
  7.  “You persuade a man (sic) only insofar as you can talk his language…identifying your ways with his.” Kenneth Burke 
  8. “People in interactions move together in a kind of dance [unaware].” Edward Hall
  9. “Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs.” Clifford Geertz 
My top ten quotations hold these qualities for me: 
  • When I first met them I saw communication in a new way.
  • They are written in a way that is easily remembered.
  • Hearing them is like hearing  a good, old song.

I give special credit to Paul Watzlawick and The Pragmatics of Human Communication for providing three entries on the list. 


Paul Watzlawick

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