"I have known the silence of the stars and of the sea, And the silence of the city when it pauses, And the silence of a man and a maid, And the silence for which music alone finds the word."

"Where the streame runneth smoothest, the water is deepest."

"Three Silences there are: the first of speech, The second of desire, the third of thought."

"What shall I say to you? What can I say Better than silence is?"

"All was silent as before— All silent save the dripping rain."

"Some sipping punch, some sipping tea, But as you by their faces see All silent and all damned."

"Les gens sans bruit sont dangereux; Il n'en est pas ainsi des autres."

"Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time."

"Rarus sermo illis et magna libido tacendi."

"Vessels never give so great a sound as when they are empty."

"Not much talk—a great, sweet silence."

"Est et fideli tuta silentio merces."

"There is a silence where hath been no sound, There is a silence where no sound may be, In the cold grave—under the deep, deep sea, Or in wide desert where no life is found, Which hath been mute, and still must sleep profound."

"And silence, like a poultice, comes To heal the blows of sound."

"Small griefs find tongues: full casques are ever found To give, if any, yet but little sound. Deep waters noyselesse are; and this we know, That chiding streams betray small depth below."

"Stillborn silence! thou that art Flood-gate of the deeper heart!"

"A horrid stillness first invades the ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear."

"Silence is the mother of Truth."

"Il ne voit que la nuit, n'entend que le silence."

"Striving to tell his woes, words would not come; For light cares speak, when mighty griefs are dumb."

"And they three passed over the white sands, between the rocks, silent as the shadows."

"Cum tacent clamant."

"Speech is great; but silence is greater."

"There was silence deep as death; And the boldest held his breath, For a time."

"Three things are ever silent—Thought, Destiny, and the Grave."

"Le silence est l'esprit das sots, Et l'une des vertus du sage."

"Qui tacet, consentire videtur."

"Alta vendetta D'alto silenzio è figlia."

"But silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them."

"Silence has weight. It’s not just between sounds—it is a sound."

"The best way to describe silence is to say nothing—but what grace!"

"Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen."

"To sin by silence, when we should protest, Makes cowards out of men. The human race Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised Against injustice, ignorance, and lust, The inquisition yet would serve the law, And guillotines decide our least disputes. The few who dare, must speak and speak again To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God, No vested power in this great day and land Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry Loud disapproval of existing ills; May criticise oppression and condemn The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws That let the children and childbearers toil To purchase ease for idle millionaires. Therefore I do protest against the boast Of independence in this mighty land. Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link. Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave. Until the manacled slim wrists of babes Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee, Until the mother bears no burden, save The precious one beneath her heart, until God's soil is rescued from the clutch of greed And given back to labor, let no man Call this the land of freedom."

"I have loved quiet in a leafy glade Where boughs embrace above a flowering way, Deep amber pools at sunset where the stray Soft twilight colors stain the willow shade And woodlands where sweet silence dwells."

"It must be understood that the silence referred to by the adjective ‘mystical’ is not external, esoteric silence, intended to conceal secret truths from the ‘uninitiated’, but rather inner silence, which consists in silencing one’s thoughts, however profound they may be, and therefore in detachment, especially from all our supposed knowledge. Detachment is the work of intelligence, which incessantly recognizes the finiteness of its own contents and, at the same time, of the will, which incessantly recognizes in those same contents the presence of egoism, of that amor sui that is truly the root of all evil."

"Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech."

"A still tongue makes a happy life."

"Silence, beautiful voice."

"As our bankrupt civilization draws to its close, and as the violence of the powerful against the weak, of the rich against the poor, of the few against the many, becomes more and more apparent, ... to refrain from mentioning it becomes more and more clearly a political act, an act of censorship or cowardice."

"Expressing not to you; but with you, I've bound my love silently unheard and unseen from anywhere."

"The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying the things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing the things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And the things you know before you hear them, these are you, and this is why you are in the world."

"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."

"But my words like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence."

"There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture."

"What; gone without a word? Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak; For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it."

"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much."

"Silence is only commendable In a neat's tongue dried and a maid not vendible."

"Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep."

"The saying is true "The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.""

"The rest is silence."