Quote of the Day

“If you listen closely enough, your opponents will tell you how to defeat them.” — Michael Wade, “Listen Closely Enough,” Execupundit (2022-04-07)

Quote of the Day

“The words a man speaks are always more comforting than the words he hears.” — Jessamyn West, The Massacre at Fall Creek

Quote of the Day

“Most men and women lead lives, if not of quiet desperation, at least of desperate quietness, and they jump at a chance to talk about their work to an outsider who seems eager to listen.” — William Zinsser, On Writing Well

Quote of the Day

“Sometime when you’re talking up a storm so brilliant, so charming that you can hardly believe how wonderful you are, pause just a moment and listen to yourself. It’s good for the soul to hear yourself as others hear you, and next time maybe, just maybe, you will not talk so much, so loudly, so brilliantly, so charmingly, so utterly shamefully foolishly.” — Russell Baker, Commencement Address to the Connecticut College Class of 1995 (1995-05-27)

Lean In

The sun shines on the café’s sidewalk tables, summer Sunday strollers populate the streets, and there is no ‘there’ to be at soon.

The contrarian is making a point. Trying to. The point is to make a point. Pointless.

“Statistically insignificant. Fifty million gallons of milk is a big number but it is statistically insignificant.”

“Yes, but …” The contrarian now argues the significance of the statistic.

A new tangent. Each pedantic interruption taking the conversation further away from why soy milk is bad for you. Gish is easily distracted when stuck in a trot.

Time to stop the assholery. The pedantry is adding intensity to the contrarian’s speech. Ease on the bridle.

The release of pressure acts like a booster. The gallop is on. It will last until the path ends dead.

There’s a woman coming down the street. Her step adding a sway to the sundress. She’s smiling and talking.

To herself?

Phone? Buds? Bluetooth?

She’s gone. The self-talkers are smartphone winners. She gets the benefit of the doubt.

“You’re not listening to me.”

You’re trying too hard to get heard.

Quote of the Day

“Listen. Are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?” — Mary Oliver, West Wind

Quote of the Day

“If you don’t know what to do, sit still and listen. You may hear something.” — Carl Sandburg, Incidentals