quotations about silence
Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs
Silence is a figure of speech, unanswerable, short, cold, but terribly severe.
THEODORE PARKER
"Justice and the Conscience", The Collected Works of Theodore Parker: Sermons & Prayers
To women silence is the best ornament.
SOPHOCLES
Ajax
There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Winter's Tale
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
WILL ROGERS
attributed, Vaudeville Old & New
There are unfortunates who never realize the beauty of silence, the restless ones. Wherever they are they destroy it. They chronically feel an incessant desire to fill up all the crevices of time with sound. They contribute to the vast sum of disease in the world. They are themselves diseased. They lack one of the most precious blessings of health, balance of qualities that give poise, expressing itself in love of peace, in silence.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Silence", Reactions and Other Essays
Silence is a profound teacher and a hard taskmaster. Learn her art when it is offered; there is much to hear within her temple!
LY DE ANGELES
Witchcraft: Theory and Practice
Be silent or say something better than silence.
PYTHAGORAS
attributed, Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical
Just suffer in silence, speak no bitter words.
The world offers no sympathy.
Though trouble surrounds you, an' you long to be heard,
Just suffer in silence, like me.
I'll give you a lesson in living,
And I hope it stays with you a while.
You're the reason for all of your sorrows,
So just suffer in silence, and smile.
WILLIE NELSON
"Suffering in Silence"
Silence is true wisdom's reply.
ANONYMOUS
You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.
U. S. POLICE OFFICERS
Miranda Warning
Silence on the radio ... I don't know how that works.
GARRISON KEILLOR
A Prairie Home Companion, 2006
I have found out in the course of a long public life that the things I did not say never hurt me.
CALVIN COOLIDGE
The Man from Vermont
The surest pledge of a deathless name
Is the silent homage of thoughts unspoken.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"The Herons of Elmwood", Keramos and Other Poems
Be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All's Well That Ends Well
Silence is like nightfall. Objects are lost in it insensibly.
MADAME SWETCHINE
"Airelles", The Writings of Madame Swetchine
When Silence speaks for Love, she has much to say.
RICHARD GARNETT
De Flagello Myrtes
Here may be the real secret of silence. It may lie in the quality of impression that we receive in our consciousness. If we allow ourselves to be impressed by ugly things, by thoughts of strife and bitterness and hate, there is no silence for us. But if we receive only impressions of beauty and love, then we need never be afraid. In ourselves we shall find the companionship of peace. We shall be constantly solaced with silence.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Silence", Reactions and Other Essays Discussing Those States of Feeling and Attitude of Mind That Find Expression In Our Individual Qualities
What scientists have discovered is that silence allows an area of the brain, called the hippocampus, to do what it does best. And since the hippocampus is where our memories are stored and where we process our emotions ... it is critical to learning. Silence gives this really important part of the brain the opportunity to process, consolidate and strengthen itself.
JUSTIN COULSON
The Advertiser, August 29, 2017
I love your silences, they are like mine.
ANAIS NIN
Under a Glass Bell