quotations about silence
Do not too hastily conclude that silence is indifference. Indifference is not to care, not to act, not even to think or breathe. Indifference is inhuman and inhumane. Silence, on the other hand, is almost always premeditated, a willful act. Without silence there would be no sound.
JUSTIN BRYAN SNIDER
posted on daily quotation board at Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, October 17, 2006
Your silence will not protect you.
AUDRE LORDE
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
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
Often silence is a powerful weapon. If we only knew how valiantly it could serve us in defense we should use it more. Under abuse or attack it may be the sign of guilt; but it may also be a proof of innocence and an unmistakable evidence of nobility.
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
Silence has many beauties.
SOPHOCLES
fragment, The Sons of Aleus
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 are grammatical errors even in his silence.
STANISLAW JERZY LEC
Unkempt Thoughts
But my words like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence.
PAUL SIMON
The Sound of Silence
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
WILL ROGERS
attributed, Vaudeville Old & New
Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs
Does not everything depend on our interpretation of the silence around us?
LAWRENCE DURRELL
Justine
A silence so sweet
it repels all bees
with an inhuman excess
and ripples a tragic mask
in a goathead's bleached grin,
snow-fired, cow-fat, reflecting nothing
EDWARD BUTSCHER
Poems about Silence
Silence is so freaking loud.
SARAH DESSEN
Just Listen
But still her silent looks loudly reproached me.
OVID
Amorum
Oh Mary of silence
You pick my heart with a smile
Oh sweet Mary
Come inside for a while
Help me get a hold on you
MAZZY STAR
"Mary of Silence"
I have followed Silence from the belt of Orion to Berenice's curls -- then lost it in the laughter of my soul.
ELSA BARKER
Songs of a Vagrom Angel
If you keep your mouth shut you will never put your foot in it.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Be silent or say something better than silence.
PYTHAGORAS
attributed, Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical