Mary Greer Conklin

Thus there are many who will like a man who speaks much, and will call him pleasing;

might seem that any person with a good subject must talk well and be interesting.

this shrinking of people of genius from discussing the very subjects with regard to which their opinion is most valuable, there is no doubt a great loss to the world. But unless they themselves bring forth the topic of their art, it must remain in abeyance.

It is a partnership, not an individual affair.

is listening as well as talking.

Another element of successful conversation is good-humored tolerance, the willingness to bear rubs unavoidably occasioned.

Friends often meet together just to talk things over, to get each other's point of view, to hear each other tell of his own affairs, of his work and of his progress.

negative phase of conversation may largely grow out of a discussion of the positive. By discovering what conversation is, we find, in a measure, what it is not. It is not monolog nor monopolizing; it is not lecturing nor haranguing; it is not detracting gossip; it is not ill-timed "shop" talk; it is not controversy nor debate; it is not stringing anecdotes together; it is not inquisitive nor impertinent questioning

three kinds of a bore: the person who tells the plot of a play, the one who tells the story of a novel, and the one who tells his dreams.

three dreadful D's of conversation, Dress, Disease, and Domestics, may be made an acceptable part of talk if suited to the time, the place, and the situation.