It has struck me that people seldom listen to the meaning of underlying words. There are only a few people who recognize the silence beyond the scream, the gentle weeping that hides beyond tough statements. They hear only the words, the sentences, when there is so much more to take in. People who are too self-absorbed to notice, really see or fathom others. Often, they don't even know themselves. Esther Verhoef
About This Quote

When Nelson Mandela said, "It has struck me that people seldom listen to the meaning of underlying words," he was talking about how we often only hear the words that come out of a person's mouth. We don't understand what is going on in their mind, or what they are feeling inside, because we aren't listening to them in a way that allows us to truly understand. People who are too self-absorbed to notice, really see or fathom others. Often, they don't even know themselves.

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