Whether I praise or criticize someone's action, I imply that I am their judge, that I'm engaged in rating them or what they have done.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
Labeling and diagnosis is a catastrophic way to communicate. Telling other people what's wrong with them greatly reduces, almost to zero, the probability that we're going to get what we're after.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Labeling and diagnosing others hampers effective communication and understanding.
In this quote, Marshall B. Rosenberg emphasizes that categorizing or diagnosing individuals leads to poor communication and diminishes the chances of achieving mutual understanding and connection. Instead of fostering dialogue, such labels create barriers, making it harder to address underlying issues and meet each other's needs.
Themes
CommunicationLabelingUnderstandingDialogueEmpathy
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on conflict resolution, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of empathetic communication.
More from Marshall B. Rosenberg
All quotes →In nonviolent communication, no matter what words others may use to express themselves, we simply listen for their observations, feelings, needs, and requests. Then we may wish to reflect back, paraphrasing what we have understood. We stay with empathy, allowing others the opportunity to fully express themselves before we turn our attention to solutions or requests for relief.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
All that has been integrated into NVC has been known for centuries about consciousness, language, communication skills, and use of power that enable us to maintain a perspective of empathy for ourselves and others, even under trying conditions.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
The punitive use of force tends to generate hostility and to reinforce resistance to the very behavior we are seeking.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
Expressing our vulnerability can help resolve conflicts.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
You can't make your kids do anything. All you can do is make them wish they had. And then, they will make you wish you hadn't made them wish they had.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
Similar quotes
Few things concentrate the mind more efficiently than the necessity of saying what you mean. It brings you face to face with what you are talking about, what you are actually proposing. It gets you away from the catch phrases that not merely substitute for thought but preclude it.
Edwin NewmanRead
Listen twice as much as you speak.
John C. MaxwellRead
If we go on explaining we shall cease to understand one another.
Charles Maurice De TalleyrandRead
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 RohnRead
So much of what passes for conversation today is degraded. It's either about one-upmanship, or dreary trivia. Even the cut and thrust of wit and bons mots is a form of bedazzlement designed to stop conversations dead rather than broaden them.
Theodore ZeldinRead
Speaking is half his that speaks, and half his that hears.
Michel De MontaigneRead