# Quote — Peter S. Beagle, A Fine and Private Place

> He knew very well that the great majority of human conversation is meaningless. A man can get through most of his days on stock answers to stock questions, he thought. Once he catches onto the game, he can manage with an assortment of grunts. This would not be so if people listened to each other, but they don’t. They know that no one is going to say anything moving and important to them at that very moment. Anything important will be announced in the newspapers and reprinted for those who missed it. No one really wants to know how his neighbor is feeling, but he asks him anyway, because it is polite, and because he knows that his neighbor certainly will not tell him how he feels. What this woman and I say to each other is not important. It is the simple making of sounds that pleases us.

- Author: [Peter S. Beagle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle.md)
- Book: [A Fine and Private Place](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place.md)
- Page: 43
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle#A_Fine_and_Private_Place_(1960)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place/he-knew-very

## More from this book

> I am infected with life and will die of it in time.

p. 255 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place/i-am-infected.md)

> I walked a long way that night, thinking many philosophic thoughts which, fortunately, I don’t remember.

p. 61 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place/i-walked-a-long.md)

> “Ravens bring things to people. We’re like that. It’s our nature. We don’t like it. We’d much rather be eagles, or swans, or even one of those moronic robins, but we’re ravens and there you are. Ravens don’t feel right without somebody to bring things to, and when we do find somebody we realize what a silly business it was in the first place.” He made a sound between a chuckle and a cough. “Ravens are pretty neurotic birds. We’re closer to people than any other bird, and we’re bound to them all our lives, but we don’t have to like them. You think we brought Elijah food because we liked him? He was an old man with a dirty beard.”

p. 13 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place/ravens-bring-things.md)