quotations about silence
If all the world were music,
Our hearts would often long
For one sweet strain of silence.
To break the endless song.
HENRY VAN DYKE
"If All the Skies"
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
So scream your heart out
You are the chosen
You got to show them
Silence is the enemy
Scream it out loud
We are the broken
We got to show them
Silence is the enemy
PAPA ROACH
"Silence Is the Enemy"
Silence must be heard.
ENIGMA
"Silence Must Be Heard"
Silence is the safety zone of conversation.
ARNOLD H. GLASOW
attributed, Reader's Digest, 1975
Silence is so freaking loud.
SARAH DESSEN
Just Listen
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
Silence has many beauties.
SOPHOCLES
fragment, The Sons of Aleus
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
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
WILL ROGERS
attributed, Vaudeville Old & New
My silence will convict me.
REFUSED
"Last Minute Pointer"
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
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
Be silent or say something better than silence.
PYTHAGORAS
attributed, Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical
Your silence will not protect you.
AUDRE LORDE
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Winter's Tale
There is likewise a reward for faithful silence.
HORACE
Carmina
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 on the radio ... I don't know how that works.
GARRISON KEILLOR
A Prairie Home Companion, 2006
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