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• Communication: The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium. Oxford Dictionary
• Communication: The act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviours to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else.  Merriam Webster
• Making conversation,  Writing,  Listening,  Connection,  Understanding,  Conflict management,  Eloquence.  Public speaking,  Right speech,  Be impeccable with your word

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Being able to communicate and express ourselves is one of our greatest needs

• The greatest reward is to know that one can speak and emit articulate sounds and utter words that describe things, events and emotions. Camilo Jose Cela
• … everyone who is human has something to express. Try not expressing yourself for twenty- four hours and see what happens. You will nearly burst. You will want to write a long letter, or draw a picture, or sing, or make a dress or a garden. Brenda Ueland
• Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfilment. Pearl S. Buck
• Communication is truth; communication is happiness. To share is our duty; to go down boldly and bring to light those hidden thoughts which are the most diseased; to conceal nothing; to pretend nothing; if we are ignorant to say so; if we love our friends to let them know it. Virginia Woolf

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Open, effective communication brings rich rewards

• The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives. Tony Robbins
• Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
• Communication–the human connection–is the key to personal and career success. Paul J. Meyer
• Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. Rollo May
• Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible – the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. Virginia Satir
• When we have the courage to speak out – to break our silence – we inspire the rest of the ‘moderates’ in our communities to speak up and voice their views. Sharon Schuster
• When we change the way we communicate, we change society. Clay Shirky

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Being able to communicate effectively is essential for success in relationships and life

• Once a human being has arrived on this earth, communication is the largest single factor determining what kinds of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him. Virginia Satir
• You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere. Lee Iacocca
• Life is a matter of dealing with other people, in little matters and cataclysmic ones, and that means a series of conversations. Deborah Tannen
• I think that being able to communicate with people is power. Oprah Winfrey
• Success,  Principles for healthy relationships

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Effective communication is an essential skill for leaders

• Communication is the real work of leadership. Nitin Nohria
• Leadership is an unbelievably hard communications job. Paul Danos
• Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can’t get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter. Gilbert Amelio
• The art of communication is the language of leadership. James Humes
• Leadership

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Poor communication can extract a heavy price

• Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn’t listening. Emma Thompson
• A deadness occurs in relationships when people are no longer willing to tell each other how they really feel. Shakti Gawain
• Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• The vacuum created by a failure to communicate will quickly be filled with rumor, misrepresentation, doubt and poison. Parkinson’s Law
• The void created by the failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel and misrepresentation. Northcote Parkinson
• Bad human communication leaves us less room to grow. Rowan D. Williams
• Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible. Carl Jung
• People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Communication is a skill that can be developed and practiced

• Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing.  If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.  Brian Tracy
• Communication works for those who work at it. John Powell
• The tongue is the only tool that gets sharper with use. Washington Irving
• Everyone may speak truly, but to speak logically, prudently, and adequately is a talent few possess. Michel de Montaigne
• Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people. Jim Rohn
• Skill

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Here are some ingredients for effective communication

• Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. Joseph Pulitzer
• First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. Epictetus
• Examine what is said, not who speaks. Arabian Proverb
• The basic building block of good communications is the feeling that every human being is unique and of value.
• In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. Thich Naht Hanh
• Effective messages incorporate the following two key concepts: An understanding of the listener’s needs, interests, concerns, and priorities. The sender’s own ideas communicated clearly and specifically.  Stephen Covey

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The most essential ingredient of all is active listening

• To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well. John Marshall
• It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all. Democritus
• If we try to listen we find it extraordinarily difficult, because we are always projecting our opinions and ideas, our prejudices, our background, our inclinations, our impulses; when they dominate, we hardly listen at all to what is being said. In that state, there is no value at all. One listens and therefore learns, only in a state of attention a state of silence in which this whole background is in abeyance, is quiet; then, it seems to me, it is possible to communicate. Krisnamurti
• The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said. Peter F. Drucker
• Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn’t listening. Emma Thompson
• Communication can’t always follow the top-down model. With the fluidity of information in business today, leaders need to be masterful listeners; they need to be able to receive as well as send. Joseph Badaracco
• You ain’t learnin’ nothin’ when you’re doin’ all the talkin’. Lyndon B Johnson
• A dialogue is more than two monologues. Max Kampelman
• Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf. American Indian proverb
• Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery. Dr Joyce Brothers
• One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention. Jim Rohn
• To seduce most anyone, ask for and listen to his opinion. Malcolm Forbes
• One who cares is one who listens. J Richard Clarke
• Listening

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Make your communication simple and clear

• Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn’t about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way. John Kotter
• Don’t appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood. Moliere
• Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. William Butler Yeats
• My basic rule is to speak slowly and simply so that my audience has an opportunity to follow and think about what I am saying. Margaret Chase Smith
• A loud voice cannot compete with a clear voice, even if it’s a whisper. Barry Neil Kaufman
• Speak comfortable words. William Shakespeare
• The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. Thomas Jefferson
• If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams–the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. Robert Southey
• Simplicity,  Clarity

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Good communication starts with good preparation

• If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now. Woodrow Wilson
• You cannot speak that which you do not know. You cannot share that which you do not feel. You cannot translate that which you do not have. And you cannot give that which you do not possess. To give it and to share it, and for it to be effective, you first need to have it. Good communication starts with good preparation. Jim Rohn
• Preparation

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To effectively communicate, appreciate other points of view and listen with an open mind

• To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others. Tony Robbins
• Our most common way of talking is telling: asserting the truth about the way things are and must be, not allowing that there might be other truths and possibilities. And our most common way of listening is not listening: listening only to our own talking, not to others. Adam Kahane
• Open-mindedness

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Be candid, unreserved and forthright in your communication

• If people would dare to speak to one another unreservedly, there would be a good deal less sorrow in the world a hundred years hence. Samuel Butler
• I detest that man, who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks forth another. Homer
• Candour is a compliment; it implies equality. It’s how true friends talk. Peggy Noonan

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Use pauses and silence to maximum effect

• The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. Mark Twain
• Talking is like playing on the harp; there is as much in laying the hands on the strings to stop their vibration as in twanging them to bring out their music. Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. Martin Farquhar Tupper
• A sage thing is timely silence, and better than any speech. Plutarch
• Silence

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Think before you communicate and don’t talk too much

• Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much. Robert Greenleaf
• True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary. Heinrich Heine
• But far more numerous was the herd of such who think too little and who talk too much. John Dryden
• One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act impulsively without thinking. I always try to think before I talk. Margaret Chase Smith
• How much better might human communication be if words were as precious as diamonds? If each of us were allotted only 100 words per day? Jerry Spinelli
• Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating. Charlie Kaufman
• If everybody thought before they spoke, the silence would be deafening. George Barzan
• Be brief, for no discourse can please when too long. Miguel de Cervantes
• Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in a few words. Aprocrypha

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Know and understand what you’re talking about

• There’s no sense in being precise when you don’t even know what you’re talking about. John von Neumann
• If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Albert Einstein
• Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves. Lewis Carroll
• Knowledge,  Understanding

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Communicate with love and courage

• It’s important to make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. Barack Obama
• Love has its own communication. It’s the language of the heart, while it has never been transcribed, has no alphabet, and can’t be heard or spoken by voice, it is used by every human on the planet. It is written on our souls, scripted by the finger of God, and we can hear, understand, and speak it with perfection long before we open our eyes for the first time. Charles Martin
• It is not nearly so important how well a message is received as how well it is sent. You cannot take responsibility for how well another accepts your truth; you can only ensure how well it is communicated. And by how well, I don’t mean merely how clearly; I mean how lovingly, how compassionately, how sensitively, how courageously, and how completely. Neale Donald Walsch
• Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. Don Miguel Ruiz
• Love,  Communication

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Be sincere and honest, and speak from the heart

• Being vulnerable doesn’t have to be threatening. Just have the courage to be sincere, open and honest. This opens the door to deeper communication all around. It creates self- empowerment and the kind of connections with others we all want in life. Speaking from the heart frees us from the secrets that burden us. These secrets are what make us sick or fearful. Speaking truth helps you get clarity on your real heart directives.  Sara Paddison
• It’s is very hard to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings – much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth. George Eliot
• Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. Miguel Ruiz
• Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Honesty

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Ask rather than make assumptions

• Ask instead of interpreting or assuming. When people try to guess what others are thinking, their guesses are almost always wrong, and almost always more negative than the actual reality of the situation.  Asking good questions, by contrast, gathers reliable and relieving data. Even bad news is better than no news because it can lead to building realistic clear action plans. Susan Heitler, Ph.D.
• Assumptions are the termites of relationships. Henry Winkler
• It is always better to ask then to make an assumption. Don Miguel Ruiz
• The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions. Don Miguel Ruiz
• Assumption

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Trust is the most essential ingredient in effective communication

• Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships. Stephen Covey
• When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective. Stephen Covey
• Trust

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Use humour to get your point across

• A sense of humour can be a great help—particularly a sense of humour about oneself. William Howard Taft joked about his own corpulence and people loved it; took nothing from his inherent dignity. Lincoln eased tense moments with bawdy stories, and often poked fun at himself—and history honours him for this human quality. A sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done. Dwight D.Eisenhower
• Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones. Benjamin Disraeli
• Humour

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Some signs of effective communication

• The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, “Me, too!” versus “So what?” Jim Rohn
• Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory. Emily Post
• Communication is depositing a part of yourself in another person.

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Beware these barriers to communication

• The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw
• The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate. Joseph Priestley
• Self-consciousness kills communication. Rick Steves

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When you communicate, realise there is always the risk of being misunderstood

• Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood. Freeman Teague Jr.
• It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood. Karl Popper
• Before speaking, consider the interpretation of your words as well as their intent. Andrew Alden

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The limitations of words can make some things hard to say

• The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them. Stephen King
• Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Rudyard Kipling
• For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly. Kahlil Gibran
• One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter. James Earl Jones

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When people argue and fight, very little communication gets done

• Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; an argument an exchange of ignorance. Robert Quillen
• The less people know, the more they yell. Seth Godin
• We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another – until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices. Richard M. Nixon
• Argument is the worst sort of conversation. Jonathan Swift
• We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together, and if we are to live together we have to talk. Eleanor Roosevelt

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Don’t make people read your mind

• Try not to read other people’s minds. Do not make other people try to read yours.  Communicate effectively.  Robin Sharma

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An important part of communication is having the courage to ask for what you want

• If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Nora Roberts
• You don’t know until you ask. More often than not, you get what you ask for. Danielle LaPorte
• Many things are lost for want of asking. George Herbert
• It’s the first thing we really learn in life. Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words and really start talking, the harder it becomes to know what to say. Or how to ask for what we really need. Meredith Grey
• It’s astonishing what you can accomplish by simply asking for what you want – help, a raise, forgiveness, an idea, another chance, a break, or whatever. Richard Carlson
• Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Barbara De Angelis
• People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you’ve figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence. Jack Canfield
• You get in life what you have the courage to ask for. Oprah Winfrey
• If you don’t ever ask, out of fear of rejection, then all you have done is rejected yourself. Steve Fowle
• Courage,  Ask for what you want

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Ask questions instead of making assumptions

• Don’t Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.   Miguel Ruiz
• If others tell us something we make assumptions, and if they don’t tell us something we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate. Even if we hear something and we don’t understand we make assumptions about what it means and then believe the assumptions. We make all sorts of assumptions because we don’t have the courage to ask questions. Miguel Ruiz
• Assumptions are the termites of relationships. Henry Winkler
• The fool wonders, the wise man asks. Benjamin Disraeli

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Don’t end up regretting things left unsaid

• Many times in life I’ve regretted the things I’ve said without thinking. But I’ve never regretted the things I said nearly as much as the words I left unspoken. Lisa Kleypas
• Regret

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Before speaking, ask yourself these questions…

• If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind. Buddha
• Before you speak, think – Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? Will it hurt anyone? Will it improve on the silence? Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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… and follow these principles

• Assume everything you say about another, they can overhear; now speak accordingly. Stephen Covey
• Be impeccable With Your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. Don Miguel Ruiz
• Words transform. Speak only with a good purpose. Say only things that serve you and others. Choose your words wisely. Robert G. Allen
• If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius
• Do not repeat anything you will not sign your name to.
• If you have nothing nice to say about a person . . . don’t say it.
• If you wouldn’t write it and sign it, don’t say it. Earl Wilson

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Sometimes, the best communication happens without words

• You can talk with someone for years, every day, and still, it won’t mean as much as what you can have when you sit in front of someone, not saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you feel like you have known the person for forever…. connections are made with the heart, not the tongue. JoyBell C.
• The mouth is made for communication, and nothing is more articulate than a kiss. Jarod Kintz
• Words are not the only way we communicate, you and I. They never were. Meredith Duran
• Words

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Much of our communication is unspoken

• So much of language is unspoken. So much of language is compromised of looks and gestures and sounds that are not words. People are ignorant of the vast complexity of their own communication. Garth Stein
• Body language

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Often your actions and who you are communicates louder than words

• What you do speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Live truth instead of expressing it. Elbert Hubbard
• In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. Stephen Covey
• Action

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Pictures often communicate better than words…

• Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language. Walt Disney
• Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words. Arthur Brisbane
• Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation. Walt Disney

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… but nothing communicates better than music

• Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don’t understand the language that you’re singing in, they still know good music when they hear it. Lou Rawls
• Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. Victor Hugo
• Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones. Keith Richards
• Music is the universal language of mankind. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Music is a language, you see, a universal language. Sun Ra
• Music

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Don’t speak just for the sake of it

• A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
• People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order so they’ll have good voice boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say. Kurt Vonnegut
• Isn’t it surprising how many things, if not said immediately, seem not worth saying ten minutes from now? Arnot L. Sheppard, Jr.
• Sometimes there is a greater lack of communication in facile talking than in silence. Faith Baldwin
• Does it seem sometimes that you are always the one to break an embarrassing silence — and always by saying something more embarrassing than the silence? Robert Brault
• The difference between a smart man and a wise man is that a smart man knows what to say, a wise man knows whether or not to say it. Frank M. Garafola
• Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. Plato

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Sometimes it’s best to remain silent

• It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it. Maurice Switzer
• If you have nothing to say, say nothing. Mark Twain
• The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak. Baruch Spinoza
• If you keep your mouth shut you will never put your foot in it. Austin O’Malley
• Never miss a good chance to shut up. Will Rogers
• An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind. Walter Bagehot
• Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken. Orson Rega Card
• The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. Dorothy Nevill
• Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing. Robert Charles Benchley
• Don’t speak unless you can improve on the silence. Spanish Proverb
• Most of us know how to say nothing, but few of us know when. Mike Lerner
• A closed mouth gathers no foot. Proverb
• It takes only two years to learn to talk but a lifetime to learn to keep your mouth shut.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. The Dalai Lama
• Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer. Muhammad Ali
• The spoken word is like a sped arrow that cannot be recalled. Lord Mason
• There are times when silence has the loudest voice. Leroy Brownlow
• There are times when silence is the most sacred of responses. Eugene Kennedy
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. Jackson Brown Jr.
• Silence

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Communication and technology

• We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. Bob Moorehead
• We are more connected than ever before, more able to spread our ideas and beliefs, our anger and fears. As we exercise the right to advocate our views, and as we animate our supporters, we must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged. Bill Clinton
• Regardless of the changes in technology, the market for well-crafted messages will always have an audience. Steve Burnett
• Technology

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• Today I will communicate clearly and directly in my conversations with others. I will strive to avoid manipulative, indirect, or guilt- producing statements. I can be tactful and gentle, or assertive if necessary. I do what is right in the moment. Melody Beattie
• I will not try to read other people’s minds. I will not make other people try to read mine.  I will communicate effectively. Marc and Angel Chernoff

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• I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. Robert McCloskey
• Words are a wonderful form of communication, but they will never replace kisses and punches. Ashleigh Brilliant
• Men and women belong to different species and communications between them is still in its infancy. Bill Cosby
• Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. S. Lewis
• I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up. Tom Lehrer
• If you think communication is all talking you haven’t been listening. Ashleigh Brilliant
• The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting. Dave Barry
• The mouth is made for communication, and nothing is more articulate than a kiss. Jarod Kintz
• The problem in the world today is communication – too much communication. Homer Simpson

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