To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.

A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month's study of books

A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?

He did it (listened) as the world's most charming and magnetic people do, always asking the right question at the right time, never fidgeting or taking his eyes from the speaker's face, making the other guy feel like the most knowledgeable, brilliant, and intellectually savvy person on the planet.

Talk doesn't cook rice.