Sunday, 20 August 2023

On Listening

Calvin Coolidge was a very shy and quiet President. Often in public ceremonies he would not even say a word. When he married his wife, people learned that she used to teach the deaf. One journalist wrote, ’now that he is married to a woman who taught the deaf to hear, maybe she’ll also teach the mute to speak.’ But Coolidge remained quiet and reserved for the rest of his Presidency. Someone once asked him why he spoke so little. And his response was: ‘Because experience has taught me that I never regret that which I have not said.’ In fact on his desk he had this quote:

The wise owl sat quietly on the branch of a tree.
The more she saw, the less she spoke.
The less she spoke, the more she heard.
Oh that we would all be like that owl!

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