"I do not believe that I have had an interview with anybody in twenty-five years in which the person to whom I was talking was not annoyed during the early part of the interview by my asking stupid questions"
- Harry Stack Sullivan
About this Quote
In this quote, Harry Stack Sullivan is assessing his experiences with performing interviews. He states that in the past twenty-five years, he has not had a single interview where the person he was speaking to was not at first frustrated by his questions. This recommends that Sullivan's method to interviewing may have been non-traditional or possibly even confrontational. He acknowledges that his questions may have been perceived as "foolish" by the interviewees, showing that he might have asked difficult or thought-provoking concerns. This quote highlights the value of reliable interaction and the capacity for misconceptions or pain in the interview process.
"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?"
"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"
