What does it mean to dance? What does it mean to commit a crime? What does it mean to be anxious? What does it mean to tell a joke? The great thing about the French is that they have thought about these subjects in a great variety of ways and are a very articulate people.

Theodore Zeldin

Each person is an enigma. You're a puzzle not only to yourself but also to everyone else, and the great mystery of our time is how we penetrate this puzzle.

Theodore Zeldin

When two people talk with mutual respect and listen with a real interest in understanding another point of view, when they try to put themselves in the place of another, to get inside their skin, they change the world, even if it is only by a minute amount, because they are establishing equality between two human beings.

Theodore Zeldin

The French have made conversation their claim to civilisation.

Theodore Zeldin

You have to accept that traditions exist, that people don't change their minds very quickly, that people are scared.

Theodore Zeldin

A dream is what makes people love life even when it is painful.

Theodore Zeldin

We think of speaking as something we do naturally, without any effort. But like playing music, it requires attention and knowledge and practice.

Theodore Zeldin

You cannot measure the minute nuance that makes the difference between being happy and unhappy at work.

Theodore Zeldin

I'm constantly astounded by the way people talk so openly to someone they don't know. They clarify in their own minds what is important to them, discover another person has similar problems, and create trust and even a friendship.

Theodore Zeldin

I think it's impossible to predict the future but it is possible to look at the past and see how one can do differently from what one's ancestors have done and learn from their mistakes, and one can see how even though there are enormous forces which stop one doing what one wants to, there are little holes in which the individual can do something.

Theodore Zeldin

We are already seeing the creation of a new kind of network based on friendships: Startups, which are often founded by friends, are the beginning of something that could reshape social relations.

Theodore Zeldin

However fascinating you may think you are, there is a limit to what you can know about yourself.

Theodore Zeldin

The English reputation for humour is a way by which people avoid revealing themselves and have superficial relationships, so that you can engage in banter without making yourself vulnerable.

Theodore Zeldin

Conversation creates a new kind of network within organizations. Current networks are used for competitive advantage, but conversation is focused on encouraging people to realize their potential.

Theodore Zeldin

Breaking accepted rules does bring people together.

Theodore Zeldin

We should abolish 'work.' By that I mean abolishing the distinction between work and leisure, one of the greatest mistakes of the last century, one that enables employers to keep workers in lousy jobs by granting them some leisure time.

Theodore Zeldin

People are going to be living quite soon for 100 years. Our idea of how a family works no longer applies. It's no good saying you're going to have children for 15 years and then you're going to retire and have hobbies, because you've got 40 more years to go after 60 and you're in good health until 90 or something.

Theodore Zeldin

Gastronomy has done more to bring together people of the world than any guns ever could.

Theodore Zeldin

Families have become models for public life, constructing friendships between individuals of different temperaments, ambitions and ages, even if they are often unsuccessful. People now want, above all, appreciation of their uniqueness.

Theodore Zeldin

The institution of marriage, if you look at it over many centuries, has come and gone.

Theodore Zeldin

The great thing about marriage is that it creates trust, the most precious of things.

Theodore Zeldin