"So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it"
About this Quote
The intent is classic Krishnamurti: direct perception as liberation. He’s not advocating better communication skills so relationships run smoother. He’s pointing at a deeper malfunction: we live in fragments. We hear “part of it” because our minds are already busy sorting the speaker into categories (wise/ignorant, ally/threat), or preparing the next sentence. By urging attention to “the feeling of what is being conveyed,” he’s smuggling in his core theme that thought is often noise - memory and conditioning masquerading as understanding.
Context matters: Krishnamurti spent decades rejecting spiritual authority, including the messianic role once projected onto him. His talks repeatedly circle the same provocation: truth isn’t inherited, it’s perceived moment to moment. This quote lands as a quiet rebuke to modern performative listening - the podcast nod, the therapeutic paraphrase, the social-media “I hear you” - where words are consumed while the living human underneath remains unheard. The rhetoric is deliberately plain, almost hypnotically repetitive, as if simplicity itself is the test: can you stay with the whole without turning it into a concept?
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Krishnamurti, Jiddu. (2026, January 17). So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-when-you-are-listening-to-somebody-completely-31930/
Chicago Style
Krishnamurti, Jiddu. "So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-when-you-are-listening-to-somebody-completely-31930/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-when-you-are-listening-to-somebody-completely-31930/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.






