I met a distinguished botanist at a dinner party given by a New York book publisher. I had never talked with a botanist before, and I found him fascinating. I literally sat on the edge of my chair and listened while he spoke of exotic plants and experiments in developing new forms of plant life an indoor gardens (and even told me astonishing facts about the humble potato). I had a small indoor garden of my own - and he was good enough to tell me how to solve some of my problems.
As I said, we were at dinner party. There must have been a dozen other guests, but I violated all the cannons of courtesy, ignored everyone else, and talked for hours to the botanist. Midnight came. I said good night to everyone and departed. The botanist then turned to our host and paid me several compliments. I was "most stimulating" "I was this and I was that, and he ended by saying I was a most interesting conversationalist."
An interesting conversationalist? Why, I had said hardly anything at all. I couldn't have said anything if I had wanted to without changing the subject, for I didn't know any more about botany that I knew about the anatomy of a penguin. But I had done this: I had listened intently. I had listened because I was genuinely interested.
Source : How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
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