A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.

Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) was an American wit, playwright, and raconteur associated with Broadway and the Jazz Age’s celebrity culture. His aphorisms circulated widely in newspapers, magazines, and later quotation anthologies, often reflecting the social economy of conversation in salons, clubs, and theatrical circles where Mizner moved. This line belongs to that tradition of epigrammatic advice: it treats listening not as passive politeness but as a practical strategy for navigating social life and acquiring information. The quip’s humor depends on reversing the usual assumption that talkativeness is the route to influence, suggesting instead that attentive silence yields both popularity and knowledge.

Mizner’s remark fuses social insight with a sly moral. On the surface, it praises listening as a trait that makes one “popular everywhere,” because people enjoy being heard. The second clause delivers the punch: by listening long enough, one “gets to know something,” implying that many who dominate conversations learn little. The epigram critiques vanity and performative talk, proposing that real understanding comes from receptivity rather than display. It also hints at a pragmatic, even opportunistic, view of society: listening is a tool for gathering intelligence—about people, motives, and facts—while simultaneously earning goodwill. The humor sharpens the lesson by making it sound almost accidental: knowledge arrives “after a while” if you simply stop talking.