For every romantic possiblity, no matter how robust, there exists at least one equal and opposite sentence, phrase, or word capable of extinguishing it.

The particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap, or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section, is what the psychologist Robert Sternberg calls "practical intelligence." To Sternberg, practical intelligence includes things like "knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for for maximum effect.

What happens when two people talk? That is really the basic question here, because, that's the basic context in which all persuasion takes place.

Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.

The goal of storytelling should be to make stories as ubiquitous as music.

The single most important thing a city can do is provide a community where interesting, smart people want to live with their families.

To be someone's best friend requires a minimum investment of time. More than that, though, it takes emotional energy. Caring about someone deeply is exhausting.