Who can resist a good Hercule Poirot line, especially when it comes to listening?
Here’s another good one in the spirit of brutal honesty: “Mr. Ratchett, I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take only such cases now as interest me, and to be frank, my interest in your case is, uh… dwindling.”
And so I found myself pondering the quote, “I listen to what you say, but I hear what you mean.” It was attributed to Agatha Christie’s famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, as played by actor David Suchet.
But it wasn’t until late last night that I came across the thought-provoker. Monday had caught up with me before I was ready to let go of Sunday.
That’s why I hadn’t yet finished reading Sunday’s NY TimesMagazine and particularly Hope Reeves’ interview with Suchet, ‘Part of Me Died With Him‘ containing the quote. Suchet, who played Poirot in the BBCshow, says Poirot made him “a better listener.”
Were it only so that we listened with Poirot’s discernment. More often’s the case that people don’t listen to what you say — and hear only what they mean. Or as the late Steven Covey perceptively proclaimed, “Most people…
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