All was silent as before –
All silent save the dripping rain.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
There are grammatical errors even in his silence.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Silence makes no mistakes.
—French Proverb
When little is done, little is said; silence is the mother of truth.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…. We need silence to be able to touch souls.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
Repentance for silence is better than repentance for speaking.
—Spanish Proverb
The silence of the place was like a sleep, so full of rest it seemed.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Speech is often barren; but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the while be sitting on one addled nest-egg; and when it takes to cackling, will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Still waters run deep.
—Common Proverb
God’s poet is silence! His song is unspoken,
And yet so profound, so loud, and so far,
It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken,
And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.
—Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) American Poet, Journalist
Woman, to women silence is the best ornament.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Speech is often repented, silence never.
—Danish Proverb
Silence is the unbearable repartee.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
He knew the precise psychological moment when to say nothing.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
A person that would secure to himself great deference will, perhaps, gain his point by silence as effectually as by anything he can say.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
Learn taciturnity and let that be your motto!
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Songwriter
Touch not the flute when drums are sounding around; when fools have the word, the wise will be silent.
—Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) German Lutheran Philosopher, Theologian, Poet, Literary Critic
What a strange power there is in silence! How many resolutions are formed, how many sublime conquests effected, during that pause when lips are closed, and the soul secretly feels the eye of her Maker upon her!—They are the strong ones of earth who know how to keep silence when it is a pain and grief unto them, and who give time to their own souls to wax strong against temptation.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Silence is one of the great arts of conversation, as allowed by Cicero himself, who says “there is not only an art, but an eloquence in it.” A well-bred woman may easily and effectually promote the most useful and elegant conversation without speaking a word.—The modes of speech are scarcely more variable than the modes of silence.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
Speaking comes by nature, silence by understanding.
—German Proverb
It is only reason that teaches silence; the heart teaches us to speak.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Silence is an answer to a wise man.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; but, define yourself.
—Harvey Samuel Firestone (1868–1938) American Industrialist
I do know of those that therefore only are reputed wise, for saying nothing.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
He knows not how to speak who cannot be silent; still less how to act with vigor and decision. Who hastens to the end is silent; loudness is impotence.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Silence gives us a new way of looking at something.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun