--- title: "7 Listen Quotes By Mark Nepo" description: "7 Listen quotes by Mark Nepo. Plus more from Mark Nepo and more Listen sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/mark-nepo-1670_challenges_to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relation_699661.png" --- > [To listen also means to stay in relationship, the central challenge of our time, and this requires us to constantly minimize whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relationship-the-central-challenge-of/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/mark-nepo-1670_challenges_to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relation_699661.png) > [To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/to-listen-is-to-lean-in-softly-with-a-willingness-to-be-changed-by/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/mark-nepo-1670_changed_to-listen-is-to-lean-in-softly-with-a-wi_930195.png) > [Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. Because listening is the doorway to everything that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/whatever-difficulty-you-face-there-are-time-tried-ways-you-can-listen/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/433/mark-nepo-1670_alive_whatever-difficulty-you-face-there-are-t_1120344.jpg) > [To listen is to continually give up all expectation and to give our attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/to-listen-is-to-continually-give-up-all-expectation-and-to-give-our/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ef/mark-nepo-1670_attention_to-listen-is-to-continually-give-up-all_2063087.png) > [The many ways to listen have been reaching into me for years. To enter deep listening, I've had to learn how to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-many-ways-to-listen-have-been-reaching-into-me-for-years-to-enter/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a89/mark-nepo-1670_accepting_the-many-ways-to-listen-have-been-reachi_2153865.jpg) > [“Havin loved enough and lost enough, I'm no longer searching, just opening, no longer trying to make sense of pain but trying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/havin-loved-enough-and-lost-enough-i-m-no-longer-searching-just/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cdb/mark-nepo-1670_feel_havin-loved-enough-and-lost-enough-i-m-n_2850951.png) > [If we are to access the resources of life, we must listen with our common heart to the cries of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-life-we-must-listen-with-our/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/mark-nepo-1670_access_if-we-are-to-access-the-resources-of-lif_3131466.png) ## Other authors on Listen ## More by Mark Nepo > [“Often we find it easier to think our way around things rather than to feel our way through them:”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/often-we-find-it-easier-to-think-our-way-around-things-rather-than-to/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [When we don't get what we want, there's a legitimate grieving, and then the spiritual journey truly begins, because not getting what we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/when-we-don-t-get-what-we-want-there-s-a-legitimate-grieving-and-then/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Each soul on earth is complete unto itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/each-soul-on-earth-is-complete-unto-itself/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“a living symbol that can call into my moment of sadness a deeper sense of plenitude and generosity that is always there, but not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-living-symbol-that-can-call-into-my-moment-of-sadness-a-deeper/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“COMING OUT While there is much to do we are not here to do.   Under the want to problem-solve is the need to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/coming-out-while-there-is-much-to-do-we-are-not-here-to-do-under-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The greatest thing we can do to be closer to our own lives and to the freshness of living is to open up again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-greatest-thing-we-can-do-to-be-closer-to-our-own-lives-and-to-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [For though we stubbornly cling, believing in our moment of hunger that there is no other possibility of love, we only have to let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/for-though-we-stubbornly-cling-believing-in-our-moment-of-hunger-that/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Perhaps the hardest thing I've learned, and still struggle with, is that I don't have to be finished in order to be whole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/perhaps-the-hardest-thing-i-ve-learned-and-still-struggle-with-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [A successful creative expression is one in which the person who has expressed it was transformed for having encountered it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-successful-creative-expression-is-one-in-which-the-person-who-has/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [No amount of thinking can stop thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/no-amount-of-thinking-can-stop-thinking/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“Yet beneath all the talk of tragedy and grace, I have come to believe that we are destined to be opened by the living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/yet-beneath-all-the-talk-of-tragedy-and-grace-i-have-come-to-believe/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The glassblower knows: while in the heat of beginning, any shape is possible. Once hardened, the only way to change is to break.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-glassblower-knows-while-in-the-heat-of-beginning-any-shape-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/we-work-so-hard-to-get-somewhere-to-realize-a-dream-to-arrive-at-some/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Our job is not to expose the mystery but to participate in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/our-job-is-not-to-expose-the-mystery-but-to-participate-in-it/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Pursue the obstacle It will set you free](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/pursue-the-obstacle-it-will-set-you-free/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/listen/mark-nepo/#itemlist", "name": "7 Listen Quotes By Mark Nepo", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To listen also means to stay in relationship, the central challenge of our time, and this requires us to constantly minimize whatever stands between us and life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relationship-the-central-challenge-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/mark-nepo-1670_challenges_to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relation_699661.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/mark-nepo-1670_challenges_to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relation_699661.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b56/mark-nepo-1670_challenges_to-listen-also-means-to-stay-in-relation_699661.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To listen also means to stay in relationship, the central challenge of our time, and this requires us to…” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/to-listen-is-to-lean-in-softly-with-a-willingness-to-be-changed-by/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/mark-nepo-1670_changed_to-listen-is-to-lean-in-softly-with-a-wi_930195.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/mark-nepo-1670_changed_to-listen-is-to-lean-in-softly-with-a-wi_930195.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f72/mark-nepo-1670_changed_to-listen-is-to-lean-in-softly-with-a-wi_930195.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.” — Mark Nepo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whatever difficulty you face, there are time-tried ways you can listen your way through. 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