When men cannot communicate their thoughts to each other, simply because of difference of language, all the similarity of their common human nature is of no avail to unite them in fellowship.

Two men who differ as to the ends of life cannot hope to agree about education.

We were talking a lot, but we weren't communicating at all.

When he had left the room, I mused over the conversation which had just taken place between us, but I could make nothing out of it, except that it argued an even greater perversity of mental vision than I had been yet prepared for. And this made me wretched; for I cannot bear having much to do with people who think differently from myself.

They talked further, an incoherent conversation of disconnected fragments, peppered by misunderstanding, suffused by mistrust.

If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.

The conversation at dinner hadn't been successful either; it bore the marks of an old married couple who had very little left to say to each other.

They sat for a moment, regarding one another; neither understanding. As if we were two aliens, thought Blaine. With viewpoints that did not come within a million miles of coinciding, and yet they both were men.

There are no two men in this world more similar than you and him," she told me. "And that's the worst thing for having a conversation.

Two may talk and one may hear, but three cannot take part in a conversation of the most sincere and searching sort.

Two men may talk together enthusiastically for an hour or so about shared experiences, and yet not have a true conversation. A lonely man who wants to indulge his nostalgic mood feels the need of someone with whom to share it. When he finds such a companion, he starts to pour out his monologue as though recounting a dream. And so the talk goes on between them, their monologues alternating, but after a time they suddenly become aware that they have nothing to say to each other. They are like two men standing at either side of a chasm, the bridge across which has been destroyed.

To have a dialog with those who do not share our basic premises is nothing more than a stupid way to kill time.

So much they talked, so very little said.

The larger the group, the worse the conversation.