quotations about silence
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
There is likewise a reward for faithful silence.
HORACE
Carmina
There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Winter's Tale
Be silent or say something better than silence.
PYTHAGORAS
attributed, Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical
But still her silent looks loudly reproached me.
OVID
Amorum
If you keep your mouth shut you will never put your foot in it.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
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
To women silence is the best ornament.
SOPHOCLES
Ajax
Be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All's Well That Ends Well
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
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
When Silence speaks for Love, she has much to say.
RICHARD GARNETT
De Flagello Myrtes
In positions of power, silence is not an option.
MAGNUS LINKLATER
"In positions of power, silence is not an option", The Times, September 3, 2017
Of what is great one must either be silent or speak with greatness.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
The Will to Power
Silence is the safety zone of conversation.
ARNOLD H. GLASOW
attributed, Reader's Digest, 1975
Silence on the radio ... I don't know how that works.
GARRISON KEILLOR
A Prairie Home Companion, 2006
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
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
Silence is like nightfall. Objects are lost in it insensibly.
MADAME SWETCHINE
"Airelles", The Writings of Madame Swetchine
I love your silences, they are like mine.
ANAIS NIN
Under a Glass Bell