Politics, Art, Religion : Page 269

But at the end of a tense paragraph, you must be able to relax, and perhaps almost to smile, so that everyone feels that there was nothing personal in the intensity, only a love of the truth. An important technique is to keep your voice low. The hotter the discussion gets, the more others tend to raise their voice, the more you should keep yours gentle and low. A low voice can show more intensity than a loud one, but a loud one more easily sounds ill-tempered or angry. Since it is your responsibility not only to stay good-natured yourself but to help others remain so, you will inject a lighter note, a compliment, or even a pun, when things get too serious. As a last resort, you may even say, "I wonder whether we cannot approach this in a more calm manner."