on talking

about Confucius: he often adjusted his answers depending on who was asking

We live in this place, in this world, where we can share our words but not our thoughts.

Confucius believed that language does not merely reflect society but manifests it. Words commit us to courses of action; misnaming distorts not only what we say but also what we do. This is why people in his time, and often in China still, are careful with speech in a way that contrasts with Western free expression.

The best communicators, Tsar says, constantly leave space for uncertainty.