“ His silence is more eloquent than words. ”
Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1841). copy citation
| Author | Thomas Carlyle |
|---|---|
| Source | On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History |
| Topic | words silence eloquence |
| Date | 1841 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1091/1091-h/1091-h.htm |
Context
“There is a brevity, an abrupt precision in him: Tacitus is not briefer, more condensed; and then in Dante it seems a natural condensation, spontaneous to the man. One smiting word; and then there is silence, nothing more said. His silence is more eloquent than words. It is strange with what a sharp decisive grace he snatches the true likeness of a matter: cuts into the matter as with a pen of fire. Plutus, the blustering giant, collapses at Virgil's rebuke; it is "as the sails sink, the mast being suddenly broken."”
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Meaning and analysis
