Themes

"I'll speak to thee in silence."

"Be check'd for silence, But never tax'd for speech."

"Criticism should not be focused on Nazi Germany alone but extend beyond to include physicians in democratic countries, as well. Physicians outside Germany before the war, in the United States in particular were well aware of the evolving racist thrust of the health care system. They chose to remain silent."

"When one intends to move or when one intends to speak, one should first examine one’s own mind and then act appropriately with composure. When one sees one’s mind to be attached or repulsed, then one should neither act nor speak, but remain still like a piece of wood. When my mind is haughty, sarcastic, full of conceit and arrogance, ridiculing, evasive and deceitful, when it is inclined to boast, or when it is contemptuous of others, abusive, and irritable, then I should remain still like a piece of wood. When my mind is averse to the interests of others and seeks my own self-interest, or when it wishes to speak out of a desire for an audience, then I will remain still like a piece of wood. When it is impatient, indolent, timid, impudent, garrulous, or biased in my own favor, then I will remain still like a piece of wood."

"Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk into the language-river. Listen to the ocean, and bring your talky business to an end Traditional words are just babbling in that presence, and babbling is a substitute for sight."

"Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence."

"to him who fears only your opposition...silence is consent. And silence where life and liberty is at stake, where by a timely protest we could stay the destroyer's hand, and do not do so, is as criminal as giving actual aid to the oppressor, for it answers his purpose..."

"All music is just performances of 4'33" in studios where another band happened to be playing at the time."

"In the moment of silence Agnes fancied she could hear the stalactites grow."

"Silence slammed in like a thunderclap."

"Be silent always when you doubt your Sense."

"I know you'll speak no truth at this time. I've to be guided solely by your silence, your eyes and the inaudible appeals of your heart."

"I shall halt. Truth does not always Gain if she displays Her face unflinching; and silence is often a man’s wisest counsel."

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

"Of what is great one must either be silent or speak with greatness. With greatness — that means cynically and with innocence."

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—"

"He who believes in Allah and the Last Day should either utter good words or better keep silence; and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should treat his neighbour with kindness and he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should show hospitality to his guest."

"… There's a joy, To the fond votaries of fame unknown, To hear the still small voice of conscience speak In whisp'ring plaudit to the silent soul."

"You have the right to remain silent when questioned. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning, if you wish. If you decide to answer any questions now, without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?"

"You know There are moments when silence, prolong'd and unbroken, More expressive may be than all words ever spoken, It is when the heart has an instinct of what In the heart of another is passing."

"The silence walked beside them like the ghost of a dead man."

"my silence floats towards you-/a bright and secret sign."

"We can learn to work and speak when we are afraid in the same way we have learned to work and speak when we are tired. For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us. The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken."

"Your silence will not protect you."

"What I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid? To question or to speak as I believed could have meant pain, or death. But we all hurt in so many different ways, all the time, and pain will either change or end. Death, on the other hand, is the final silence."

"The surest pledge of a deathless name Is the silent homage of thoughts unspoken."

"Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike."

"There are grammatical errors even in his silence."

"Silence is a source of great strength."

"Silence is Love's own peculiar eloquence of bliss."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

"I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of goodwill. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity."

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on"

"You have asked me what I would do and what I would not do. I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it calls itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use -- silence, exile, and cunning."

"Silence, according to western and eastern tradition alike, is necessary for the emergence of persons. It is taken from us by machines that ape people. We could easily be made increasingly dependent on machines for speaking and for thinking, as we are already dependent on machines for moving."

"After a lifetime of silence, it is difficult then to speak."

"Elected Silence, sing to me And beat upon my whorlèd ear, Pipe me to pastures still and be The music that I care to hear. Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb: It is the shut, the curfew sent From there where all surrenders come Which only makes you eloquent."

"Perhaps it is possible to discover more in silence than in speech. Or perhaps it is only that those who are silent among us learn to listen."

"Take heed of still waters, they quick pass away."

"It was so darn quiet you could hear your hair grow."

"Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak."

"Silence best speaks the mind."

"I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?"

"I have expressed an opinion on public issues whenever they appeared to me so bad and unfortunate that silence would have made me feel guilty of complicity."

"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence."

"Silence is always beautiful, and a silent person is always more beautiful than one who talks."

"Weakness invites, but silence feasts oppression."

"Upon this wintry night it is so still, that listening to the intense silence is like looking at intense darkness."

"Timely silence, then, is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts."

"There are haunters of the silence, ghosts that hold the heart and brain."