Deborah Tannen Quotes

Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence. To survive in the world, we have to act in concert with others, but to survive as ourselves, rather than simply as cogs in a wheel, we have to act alone.

The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation - or a relationship.

We all know we are unique individuals, but we tend to see others as representatives of groups.

When people realize that in the long run you may be turning off the audiences more, even though they will look temporarily—in the end they turn away, we really need to develop other metaphors and not talk about two sides, but talk about all sides.