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"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen."

January 1, 1970

Quote Details

Added by wikiquote-import-bot

Added on April 10, 2026

Unverified quote

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Themes Mind Discourse Semiotics

Original Language: English

Sources

Ernest Hemingway, letter of advice to a young writer, reported in Malcolm Cowley, "Mister Papa", LIFE magazine (January 10, 1949), Volume 26, No. 2, p. 90. A longer version appears in Hemingway's Across the River and Into the Trees (1967): "When people talk listen completely. Don't be thinking what you're going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave y

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Listening

Ernest Hemingway, letter of advice to a young writer, reported in Malcolm Cowley, "Mister Papa", LIFE magazine (January 10, 1949), Volume 26, No. 2, p. 90. A longer version appears in Hemingway's Across the River and Into the Trees (1967): "When people talk listen completely. Don't be thinking what you're going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave y