Plutarch was born c. 45 A.D. and died c. 125 A.D. He chronicled the lives and history of the most influential people in the Greco-Roman empires as well as essays on a wide range of religious, philosophical, scientific and moral topics.

He also had a lot to say about listening which we think you might enjoy.

Since both the benefits and the dangers inherent in listening are equally great, I am of the opinion that listening ought to be a constant topic of discussion in one's own mind and with other people. This is especially so because it is noticeable that most people go about the matter in the wrong way: they practice speaking before they have got used to listening. They think that speaking takes study and care, but benefits will accrue from even a careless approach to listening.

In speech proper receptivity is prior to delivery just as conception and pregnancy precede the birth of the viable offspring.

Speech of people who are incapable of listening and unused to benefiting from listening is truly (impotent).

Nature gave each of us two ears, but one tongue, because we should listen more than we speak.

Silence is undoubtedly an adornment; and never more so than if one listens without getting worked up and barking out a riposte but - even if the comments are distinctly unwelcome - puts up with them and waits for the Speaker to finish and, once the Speaker has finished, instead of immediately answering back, leaves an interval, to see if the speaker wants to add anything to want he has already said, or to make any changes or take something back. Immediately to lash out in retaliation, however, and neither to listen nor be listened to, but to speak while being spoken to is scandalous; on the other hand anyone who has acquired the ability to listen in a self controlled and respectful fashion is receptive to and retentive of any remarks that are useful, while any that are useless or false are quite transparent to him and easily detectable, because he is - as is obvious - aiming at the truth rather than winning an argument.

Anger, superstition, acrimony or desire decompose the mind.

Inopportune and unjustified desire for standing or for recognition, decomposes and scatters the mind of anyone who is influenced by these conditions and so prevents him from attending to what is said. This is why it is essential for one to call a halt to the conflict between the desire for instruction and the desire for standing, and to listen to the speaker in a gracious and civilized manner.

When faced with people making mistakes, one should not block constantly repeating to oneself Plato's saying: "Am I really sure that I am not like that too?" For just as we see our own eyes reflected in the eyes of one neighbors, so where speaking is concerned it is inevitable that our own mannerisms are mirrored by those of others, and this should stop us rushing headlong into contempt of others, and make us pay closer attention to ourselves when we speak.

It is not difficult - in fact it is really quite easy - to repudiate a speech once it has been delivered; but it is extremely hard work to raise an improved version instead.

Contempt and willfulness lessen the benefit to be gained from speakers.

Heraclitus said, "an inane person tends to get excited what ever is being said."

Style vs content
Anyone who fails to concentrate on the actual topic, and instead requires the style to be refined, might as well refuse to drink medicine unless the cup has been made of the finest materials.

The juror at a trial must listen without incline towards either hostility or favor, but must be rational and impartial. An oath sworn by jurymen at Athens.

Not to sit languidly, but in an upright posture without slouching; to look directly at the speaker, to remain actively at attention; to keep one's features impassive so that one not only displays no conceit or annoyance, but also does not give the impression that one's mind is elsewhere or otherwise engaged.

Some people think that the Speaker has a function while the listener does nothing.

They expect the Speaker to come with everything carefully thought out and prepared, while they can charge in and sit down without a care and with no thought for proper behavior.

One should not turn a deaf ear to criticism and disapproval, or run away from it. It follows that a person who is at the receiving end of criticism ought to feel some discomfort and pain, but should not be depressed or downhearted: he should treat it as if philosophy had ritually initiated him, and endure the preliminary purifications and disturbances, anticipating that his present discomfort and distress will lead to a delightful and lucid state.

Some, motivated by a kind of embarrassment and an unwillingness to involve the Speaker, stop themselves from asking questions and fixing the speech in their minds, and just nod as if they understood; others, influenced by excessive desire for recognition and vain competitiveness, try to show how sharp they are and how quickly they learn by claiming to understand the speech before a have got the point - and so miss the point.

We must endure the scorn of those who give the appearance of talent, just as Cleanthes and Xenocrates did when they appeared to be slower than their fellow pupils at school. This did not make them run away from education, nor did it make them of despair: instead, they were the first to make fun of themselves comparing themselves to narrow necked containers and bronze engraving plates, because although it was hard for the words to get in, yet they persevered securely and reliably.

We must encourage (each other ) - once we have grasped the basic points - to interconnecting everything else on our own, to use memory to guide our original thinking, and to accept what someone else says as a starting point, a seed to be nourished and grow. For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling but wood that needs igniting - no more - and then it motivates one towards originality and instills the desire for truth. Suppose someone were to go and ask his neighbors for fire and find a substantial blaze there, and just stay there continually warming himself: that is no different from someone who goes to someone else to get to some of his rationality, and fails to realize that he ought to ignite his own flame, his own intellect, but is happy to sit entranced by the lecture, and the words trigger only associative thinking and bring, as it were, only a flush to his cheeks and a glow to his limbs; but he has not dispelled or dispersed, in the warm light of philosophy, the internal dank gloom of his mind.

If any further advice about listening is needed, it is for us to remember what has just been said and to combine learning with working towards originality, which will enable us to acquire an attitude which is not merely sophistic and curious, but profound and philosophical - and the basis of this is the view that proper listening is the foundation of proper living.

Proper listening is the foundation of proper living.

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