I speak and speak, [...] but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. [...] It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of the listener's perception in understanding a message.
In this quote, Marco Polo emphasizes that effective communication isn't solely about the speaker's delivery but is equally dependent on the listener's expectations and interpretation. He suggests that the listener's preconceived notions dictate how the spoken words are received, indicating that true comprehension goes beyond mere sound to involve active engagement and openness to new ideas.
In practice
In a podcast discussion about effective communication.
I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice.
I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed
You can't truly listen to someone and do anything else at the same time.
Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.
Communication does not always occur naturally, even among a tight-knit group of individuals. Communication must be taught and practiced in order to bring everyone together as one
All communication involves faith; indeed, some linguisticians hold that the potential obstacles to acts of verbal understanding are so many and diverse that it is a minor miracle that they take place at all.
In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.
It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.
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