Maxim
Listen more than you speak.
“This is the reason why we have two ears and only one mouth, that we may hear more and speak less.”
Stoicism · Ancient (before 200 BCE)
Translation: public-domain translation (C. D. Yonge)
Real listening is a kind of generosity, and a kind of humility too. When we assume the other person may know something we don't, conversations stop being contests and start teaching us.
Related expressions
“Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't.”
— Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (2018), Rule 9 (rule title); Random House Canada edition, checked against the book's contents as shown on Google Books (that listing drops punctuation)Watch on YouTube (0:10–0:19) ↗Jordan B. Peterson discusses this rule (fan upload)“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
— Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), Habit 5 (habit title); checked on the FranklinCovey siteEchoes Zeno of Citium (via Diogenes Laertius): two ears and one mouth, to hear more and speak less“let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:”
Score
Moral Rank 73.5 · Evidence E = 16.46
E = ln(1+3.82) + √3.82 + 3·2.81 + 1.5·3 = 16.46