Welcome to our collection of listener quotes! Here, we’ve curated a selection of insightful, inspiring, and thought-provoking quotes shared by our audience members. From profound reflections to witty observations, these quotes offer a glimpse into the diverse perspectives and experiences of our listeners.
Listening is an art, and within these quotes, you’ll find the fruits of that artistry. Whether it’s capturing a moment of clarity, expressing a deeply held belief, or simply sharing a snippet of life’s wisdom, each quote reflects a unique voice and a unique perspective. As you explore these quotes, we invite you to ponder, resonate, and perhaps find resonance with the words and sentiments expressed.
Below, you’ll find a treasure trove of listener quotes waiting to be discovered. Feel free to use them as inspiration for your own creative endeavors, whether it’s overlaying them on images, experimenting with stylish fonts, or simply savoring their raw authenticity. Let these quotes spark your imagination, ignite your passions, and remind you of the power of listening. Enjoy!
A voice can also repel, infuriate or actually make a listener ill. Johnny Olson
Flipping the dial through available radio stations there will blare out to any listener an array of broadcasts, 24/7, propagating Religious Right politics, along with what they deem to be ‘old-time gospel preaching.’ This is especially true of what comes over the airwaves in Bible Belt southern states. Tony Campolo
You need to become a good listener. As you’re working, you hear someone else’s lines and how you absorb them becomes your acting. Jacqueline Bisset
I don’t want to sing songs that aren’t worth while. Time is so rare. I just don’t want to waste the listener’s time and I think that my songs don’t do that. That’s what I pray for. I want songs that really touch people’s hearts. Rodney Atkins
I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I’m conscious of the mainstream without selling out. J. Cole
One of my beliefs about leadership is it’s not how many followers you have, but how many people you have with different opinions that you can bring together and try to be a good listener. Robert Kraft
I never fixed a story. I didn’t make judgments, I let the listener make judgments. When I got to the end of the story, if it had a moral, I let the listener find it. Tom T. Hall
I love what I do. I love getting to talk with these people, and I feel like I’m learning something every day. You also have to be a really good listener, which I think is an underestimated skill. Emily Chang
I feel like for me to write songs that I would be interested in as a listener, there has to be tension, and there has to be some kind of push and pull between reality and the potential of disaster. Jason Isbell
As a writer, I find it very satisfying when a lyric suddenly ties together more neatly than you expected it to. But for the listener, hearing a good lyric is not generally as exciting as hearing a great beat or a great riff or a great melody or even a distinctive singing voice for the first time. Adam Schlesinger
I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener. Arvo Part
I put myself in the place of the listener when editing my writing. The last thing that I want to do is be preached at and told who to be or what to think when listening to an artist. However, I do want to be inspired. There’s a fine line. Macklemore
The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself. Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
I think I compose as a listener: improvising and listening back excites me because I get to ideas that never would have occurred. Then I bring in the computers and samplers… and I begin to loop and process and change them. Thomas Newman
My father was a jazz listener, and I think, at least before I was 5, I was not so into that. Although there were records that emphasized percussion that I liked, like Baby Dodds. Wallace Shawn
All of us love applause, and so we should – it means that the listener likes us! Emanuel Ax
It’s better for the listener to interpret their own meanings to the music. Kelly Jones
A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat. Katharine Whitehorn
I think recordings have been a terrific advance because now, when you have a piece of music, particularly something that appears to the listener very complicated, there’s really a push to the world to try to figure out what it was that he was hearing. Leo Ornstein
I became a better listener than I ever had been as a result of playing Jean Luc Picard because it was one of the things that he does terrifically well. Patrick Stewart
In some way, people believe that if you are permeable, if you are a good listener, you don’t have the quality of somebody with a firm attitude. This is what, fundamentally, I got from my mother. Renzo Piano
In the beginning, I was searching for myself in my music. My music was for me. I didn’t have the mental room to be conscious of the listener; I wrote to save myself. Ayumi Hamasaki
If a listener nods his head when you’re explaining your program, wake him up. Alan Perlis
An aria in an opera – Handel’s ‘Ombra mai fu,’ for example – gets along with an incredibly small number of words and ideas and a large amount of variation and repetition. That’s the beauty of it. It’s not taxing to the listener’s intelligence because if you haven’t heard it the first time round, it’ll come around again. James Fenton
Musically, I always allow myself to jump off of cliffs. At least that’s what it feels like to me. Whether that’s what it actually sounds like might depend on what the listener brings to the songs. Tori Amos
The idea of music is to liberate the listener and lead him to a frame where he feels he is elevated. A. R. Rahman
Transforming yourself into a deep listener will not only prove more amusing as you open your mind to their mind, but you will gain the most invaluable lessons about human psychology. Robert Greene
I always felt, as a listener at a show, that when there was too much banter between the artist and the audience that it detracted from the show. I more enjoyed shows where the guys came out and they just played. Ray LaMontagne
I’m a darned good listener. Naomi Judd
I love to leave the interpretation of my music up to the listener. It’s fun to see what they’ll say it is. Erykah Badu
A good journalist, as you know, is a great listener. And so’s a good writer. And I got to listen to people for almost 20 years. That serves me well, I hope, when I try to understand how a character might be feeling, or how they might react. Louise Penny
The video forum for me has been a source of great consternation because once you start projecting a look to a song, it robs the listener of their ability to adopt that song and make the lyric their own. Sheryl Crow
I don’t want it to be all that self-conscious or artificial, but it really grows out of my having invented myself as a listener so that I could hear her voice. Russell Banks
I want my music to be accessible to every listener because I know that I really have something to say in terms of really, you know, removing thorns from people, thorns that really makes us unaware that we are bleeding with these thorns, like pain, grief, jealousy and so on. Vusi Mahlasela
As a listener, we’re looking for that person who kind of excites the molecules within us – who knows how to tell the story that resonates deeply to our core and almost prompts us into action. Fats Waller has been that person for decades. When people need a lift, sometimes they go to him. I know I do. Jason Moran
My whole life is geared to play guitar. I play what I want when I want and I hope the listener gets as much pleasure listening to the music as I get playing it. Jim Sullivan
I find it’s nice when I can be a listener and absorb things coming at me. It’s important, especially for me, when so much of my job is about putting things out into the world. So those quiet moments are rejuvenating. Phillipa Soo
That’s who my mom is. She’s a listener and a doer. She’s a woman driven by compassion, by faith, by a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love. So, this November, I’m voting for a woman who is my role model, as a mother, and as an advocate. A woman who has spent her entire life fighting for families and children. Chelsea Clinton
My mother was a listener. I’m a talker. I’m very comfortable talking. Diane Keaton
Songs are about whatever you want them to be about. For me it might mean something completely different than what it means to you. So I’d say it’s about whatever the listener thinks it’s about. Norah Jones
Overall, I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give to the listener the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe… That’s what I would like to do. I think that’s one of the greatest things you can do in life, and we all try to do that in some way. The musician’s is through his music. John Coltrane
I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling. Clint Eastwood
To me, a political song is also a personal song. Most political activism has been driven by empathy for other people and the desire for a world that’s less divisive. Even if songs aren’t overtly political, they can make a listener more empathetic. Conor Oberst
The casual listener won’t be around forever. Mike Shinoda
A good listener is usually thinking about something else. Kin Hubbard
Two people in a conversation amount to four people talking. The four are what one person says, what he really wanted to say, what his listener heard, and what he thought he heard. William Jennings Bryan
I do like the idea of pulling in different producers to get new perspectives. That’s what I did with Vows and I feel it just gives variety and makes for a more exciting journey for the listener. Kimbra
Even though my songs may sound very personal, to me most of them are fiction. It is a great way for me to be able to live a fantasy life as a writer because I get to be someone else, someplace else for three and a half minutes, just like the listener. Nanci Griffith
With radio, the listener absorbs everything. Bob Edwards
I think the true artist – musician, dancer, writer, actor – a true artist is able to sort of articulate pain and tragedy, in a way that sort of expresses what the listener or the beholder may have been feeling but was less able to communicate. Black Thought
I think, to be a great conversationalist, you need to be interested in being in said conversation. Oddly enough, I think you need to be a great listener, and I do think I’m a good listener. I think that’s my asset – I always listen to people when I talk to them, and that’s a big thing you have to have in life and in podcasts. Tom Segura
The danger of that – and there’s a grave danger that I, myself, have to be very aware of – is that you become so involved and intrigued in the language that sometimes you lose track that that is only a means to an aesthetic experience that the listener has to get. Leo Ornstein
It takes a little bit of mindfulness and a little bit of attention to others to be a good listener, which helps cultivate emotional nurturing and engagement. Deepak Chopra
It is not the purpose of the ad or commercial to make the reader or listener say, ‘My what a clever ad.’ It is the purpose of advertising to make the reader say, ‘I believe I’ll buy one when I’m shopping tomorrow’. Morris Hite
The newspaper fits the reader’s program while the listener must fit the broadcaster’s program. Kingman Brewster, Jr.
I used to consider the listener. But now I’m in a space where, if I’m not inspired, I can’t really do the music. I can’t feel it. Kendrick Lamar
I’ve always wanted to be a songwriter and a storyteller and somebody who conveys a feeling to the listener or the viewer. Wes Borland
My favorite period is when we lived in the land of the three-minute song. The Motown thing – I thought they were genius in knowing that’s as much as a listener can take. Meshell Ndegeocello
Throughout my career, if I have done anything, I have paid attention to every note and every word I sing – if I respect the song. If I cannot project this to a listener, I fail. Frank Sinatra
Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and the third for the one who ‘took it to heart.’ What a pity Heaven awarded no apple to the one who wrote the story down. Nancy Willard
It takes a great man to be a good listener. Calvin Coolidge
My teacher told me I’d never amount to anything. I left high school at 15, after one year. But my real teachers were all the people around me. And I was a good listener. Curtis Mayfield
When I think about my new CD, the word ‘joy’ comes to mind. I sincerely hope that each listener will feel the earth, spirit, and aggressive creativity emanating from this album. George Duke
One quality of a good songwriter is to be vague. A vague notion, a vague image, but enough to give the listener the opportunity to make more out of what’s being said than is there. That’s the great thing about Bob Dylan’s songs: We the listeners have made more out of them than he ever intended. John Mellencamp
I dread naming pieces of music because being instrumental, most of the time the songs that I write are instrumental, I want the listener to make up their own story as to what it is and get the emotion pure without using logic. Yanni
Composers, like authors, have a lot in common. Our main goal is to connect with the listener emotionally. Ken Hill
Studying design has made me a much, much more astute observer of this aspect of business. And I’m working mightily to improve my empathic skills. I’ve dramatically improved my ability to read facial expressions – and I’m trying to be a better, more attentive listener. Daniel H. Pink
Individual psychotherapy – that is, engaging a distressed fellow human in a disciplined conversation and human relationship – requires that the therapist have the proper temperament and philosophy of life for such work. By that I mean that the therapist must be patient, modest, and a perceptive listener, rather than a talker and advice-giver. Thomas Szasz
I think when people listen to music, they can truly feel authenticity. For me personally, as a listener, there’s certain songs where I’m just like, ‘Man, I know that person was really feeling that.’ NF
A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved. He must of necessity feel all of the affects that he hopes to arouse in his audience, for the revealing of his own humour will stimulate a like humour in the listener. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
I think a good director is a good listener. Denis Villeneuve
If you want what you’re saying heard, then take your time and say it so that the listener will actually hear it. You might save somebody’s life. Your own, first. Maya Angelou
I’ve seen a study in the last year that digital sound actually induces stress in the listener. T Bone Burnett
So when you tell a joke, you want to make someone laugh, or if you tell a story about someone who had a heart attack, it may be because you want the listener to exercise. Stories are tools to create social cohesion and to get humans to strategize together. Peter Guber
Music should come crashing out of your speakers and grab you, and the lyrics should challenge whatever preconceived notions that listener has. Lou Reed
I think the reason that swearing is both so offensive and so attractive is that it is a way to push people’s emotional buttons, and especially their negative emotional buttons. Because words soak up emotional connotations and are processed involuntarily by the listener, you can’t will yourself not to treat the word in terms of what it means. Steven Pinker
Cause when you’re sequencing a record, you want the listener to stick with it from beginning to end, and in order to do that, you really have to map out the journey from the first song to the last. Dave Grohl
I like to think I’m a listener, and I’m fascinated by observing people – I suppose you just lock that in. Amanda Burton
Now, what we are not talking about, what you’re really coming to, is what compromises one makes so that the listener understands somewhat of what you’re doing, what you’re trying to express. Leo Ornstein
If you really watch ‘The Voice’ and follow Adam, he’s very ADD. He’s kind of one place here, and then he’s over here the next minute; he’s kind of all over the place. When it comes down to being very serious, and especially when we were talking about the finale song, he’s actually very serious, and he’s a very good listener. Christina Grimmie
I just got to hear every note. After I left Birdland, I started working at the Jazz Gallery. In the end, I still couldn’t play, but I knew how to listen. I was probably the world’s best listener. Carla Bley
On the other hand, there would be some value in different folks getting together to share expertise and technology; but to the listener, it wouldn’t necessarily seem like a single station in the traditional sense. Jamie Zawinski
Kanye’s the best listener I’ve ever worked with. If I interrupt Kanye, every single time, he’ll wait for me to finish before speaking. It’s a running joke – sometimes I interrupt him just to see. And he always goes, ‘No, no, finish. I want to hear what you have to say.’ Scooter Braun
I view music mostly as communication, so when I record, I’m communicating to the listener in the future. Hildur Gudnadottir
I’ve been musically inclined since I picked up an instrument in the fourth grade. I just really appreciate music. I love to listen to it; I love to sing. I wouldn’t consider myself, like, a natural singer. I just developed it over time, honestly, just listening. I’m a great listener to music. Kyrie Irving
The pictures are created by the listener, with a little help from the broadcaster. The pictures are perfect. If you’re showing pictures, different things in that picture can distract from the spoken word. Bob Edwards
I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe. John Coltrane
I think what is important for things to be funny is if you the listener, or the reader, get a chance to supply the humor of it yourself. Ian Frazier
Lyrically I like to use themes that make the listener use his or her imagination, and to give a little of the lessons I’ve learned in my own life. Ronnie James Dio
I know that everyone who listens to radio creates you in a visual image that they need you to have. Whatever that is, I thought, let them have it. Let me be who the listener needs me to be and let me not contradict that with the reality of my photograph and risk disappointing them. Terry Gross
When women reassert their relationship with the wildish nature, they are gifted with a permanent and internal watcher, a knower, a visionary, an oracle, an inspiratrice, an intuitive, a maker, a creator, an inventor, and a listener who guide, suggest, and urge vibrant life in the inner and outer world. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
I’m quite a good listener, and I’m good at looking after people. Amanda Abbington
I think in some ways, it can do a listener a disservice to explain a song. I think I’d rather leave a little room for people to put themselves in it. St. Vincent
In my case, the listener is often in an automobile driving to work. You can concentrate on the road while still getting an audio message that can be riveting. Bob Edwards
The way I sing my songs leads the listener into a place of introspection, a state of mind that can trigger self-healing and the kind of profound rest you cannot get from sleep alone. Donovan
A joke is not a thing but a process, a trick you play on the listener’s mind. You start him off toward a plausible goal, and then by a sudden twist you land him nowhere at all or just where he didn’t expect to go. Max Eastman
I’m a good listener. Retief Goosen
When you are mute, you become a good listener – it’s all one-way. You appreciate the written word. You appreciate the sound. James Earl Jones
King Princess is like an attitude. I take comfort in it as kind of a shield to exist in, where I can make cohesive art. And it’s androgynous, which is intentional. It’s important to me that my art exist in a kind of neutral space, genderless to some degree. And give the listener some imagery to hold on to. King Princess
Our shows are packed with laughter and light-hearted songs to lift the listener from their everyday life. We encourage the audience to participate in any way. Jason Mraz
