Quotes on Communication

The key to fostering connection in the face of a 'no' is always hearing 'yes' to something else.

We are never angry because of what others say or do. It is our thinking that makes us angry.

Understanding the other persons' needs does not mean you have to give up on your own needs.

We use NVC to evaluate ourselves in ways that engender growth rather than self-hatred.

As long as I think I 'should' do it, I'll resist it, even if I want very much to do it.

Get very clear about the kind of world we would like and then start living that way.

Compliments and praise, for their part, are tragic expressions of fulfilled needs

I don't think you can have an authentic connection when one person is diagnosing the other.

The cause of anger lies in our thinking - in thoughts of blame and judgment.

Every message, regardless of form or content, is an expression of a need.

Always listen to what people need rather than what they are thinking about us.

What others do may be the stimulus of our feelings, but never the cause.

Enemy images are the main reason conflicts don't get resolved.

Learning is too precious to be motivated by coercive tactics.

People do not hear our pain when they believe they are at fault.

Judgments of others contribute to self-fulfilling prophecies.

Never do anything that isn't play.

Use anger as a wake-up call to unmet needs.

Always hear the 'Yes' in the 'No'.

It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection.

Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion.