The true genius shudders at incompleteness — and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be. – Edgar Allan Poe

The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech. – George Bernard Shaw

There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all. – Rebecca West, “There is No Conversation,” 1934

Now, you indicate to me that you really see that as communication going back and forth rather than simply individual expression. But communication is assumed to be a dialogue between people, not two monologues. – Quoted in Howard Stein, A Time to Speak, 1974 [See also above quotes. —t&#