1. ‘The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.’ – William Hazlitt
2. ‘The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.’ – Michel de Montaigne
3. ‘A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That’s why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.’ – Truman Capote
4. ‘There is nothing more entertaining then leaving someone speechless. Yet, there is nothing sadder than realizing that person was incapable of retaining half of what you said, and will repeat the story all wrong to someone else.’ – Shannon L. Alder
5. ‘Words were few and failing between them as though the silence that sat with them had laid its old lips on theirs and sucked them dry of speech. For where could one begin? With the weather? But here there was no weather. These few sad rooms were the old man’s world. His horizons were all walls.’ – Michael Bedard, Redwork