From The Listening Leader,
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the most widely known author in English literature, has given us many listening success lessons in his wonderful literary works.
A number of strategies recur in Shakespeare’s plays. People should listen more and talk less to get ahead, he writes. In one instance, Polonius in “Hamlet” gives counsel on the benefits of receiving advice, while noting the risks of giving it: “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”
In “Henry IV, Part I”, Shakespeare suggests that those who don’t pay attention to what others say, suffer from the “disease of not listening”.