Perspectives on Ideas. March 25, 2007.

Communication
111 …she answered to what was implied, rather than expressed. Hawthorne, Fanshawe.

93 They [Larry O’Brien and Ken O’Donnell] shared that common understanding which abbreviates communication to swift phrases and imperceptible changes in facial expression. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

258 JFK: It is not that [Alan] Dulles is not a man of great ability...but I have never worked with him, and therefore I can’t estimate his meaning when he tells me things. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

388 Schlesinger: At the very least, each [Presidential] message should be (a) in English, (b) clear and trenchant in style, (c) logical in its structure and (d) devoid of gobbledygook. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

514 He [Kennedy] wanted to find out how foreign leaders saw their problems, to get them to understand something of his own problems and to establish personal relations which could be continued by correspondence. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

515 He [Kennedy] would mention personalities and issues, cite facts and statistics and comment on past or present in a way which led some of his guests to say afterward that the American president knew more about their countries than they did themselves. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

635 Their [Bobby and Jack] communication was virtually telepathic. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

787 The talks with Thorneycroft were a Pinero drama of misunderstanding: Thorneycroft expecting McNamara to propose Polaris, McNamara expecting Thorneycroft to request it. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

824 JFK: To move toward peace would “require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves…increased contact and communication." Schlesinger, A Thousand Days

147 But men will chatter and you and I will still shout our futilities to each other across the stage until the last silly curtain falls plump! upon our bobbing heads. Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise.

277 JFK: Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. Sorenson, Kennedy

417 [Kennedy] kept his own comments to a minimum and often cut short others, no matter how important or friendly, who were dealing with generalities or repeating the obvious. Sorenson, Kennedy

302 I talked to the Russians a good deal, just to be friendly, and they talked to me from the same motive; I am sure that both enjoyed the conversation, but never a word of it either of us understood. Twain, Innocents Abroad.

391 …the failure to establish communication had been his fault rather than the patient’s, because he had begun with preconceived notions about the case…. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind (Life of Freud).

153 Simenon: The fact that we are I don’t know how many millions of people, yet communication, complete communication, is completely impossible between two of these people is to me one of the biggest tragic themes in the world. Cowley, ed., Writers at Work.

29 John Hersey: Oceans, boundaries, iron curtains; local prejudices, nationalisms, class lines; special interests, hardened traditions, intransigent beliefs—all these tend to block the flow of ideas and images between man and man. Hull, ed. The Writer’s Book.

587 How sincere and confidential we can be, saying all that lies in the mind, and yet go away feeling that all is yet unsaid, from the incapability of the parties to know each other, although they use the same words! Emerson, Nominalist and Realist.

75 About Harriman: He had taught all his protégés always to be brief when talking to a president; they have so little time, everyone is always telling them things, keep it short and simple, and brevity above all…one idea, a few brief sentences. Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest.

30 Robert Creeley: So communication is mutual feeling with someone, not a didactic process of information. Plimpton, ed. The Writer’s Chapbook

490 No pleasure has any savor for me if I cannot communicate it. Montaigne, Selected Essays.