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Silence quotes

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“For all evils there are two remedies—time and silence.” Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” - 1845

“People can tell you to shut up, but they can't keep you from having an opinion.” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“It is in the thick of a calamity that one gets hardened to the truth, in other words, to silence.” Albert Camus, “The Plague” - 1947

“Be check'd for silence, but never tax'd for speech.” William Shakespeare, “All's Well That Ends Well” - 1623

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - 16 April 1963

“His silence is more eloquent than words.” Thomas Carlyle, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History” - 1841

“Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“They have made the happy discovery, that the way to silence religious disputes, is to take no notice of them.” Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” - 1785

“The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“Silence is the snare of the demon, and the more one keeps silent, the more terrifying the demon becomes; but silence is also the mutual understanding between the Deity and the individual.” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” Ludwig Wittgenstein, “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” - 1921

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much.” William Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing” - 1600

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.” Oscar Wilde, “The Canterville Ghost” - 1887

“'I don't think—' 'Then you shouldn't talk'” Lewis Carroll, “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” - 1865

“Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.” Haruki Murakami, “Kafka on the Shore” - 2002

“God is silent . . . now if we can only get Man to shut up.” Woody Allen, “Side Effects” - 1980

“Let us be silent, — so we may hear the whisper of the gods.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Friendship” - 1841

“Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants, willing to be dethroned.” James Joyce, “Ulysses” - 1922

“The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus” - 1942

“No, I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.” William Shakespeare, “King Lear” - 1623

“I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots.” William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” - 1600

“The silence often of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails.” William Shakespeare, “The Winter's Tale” - 1623

“The red wine first must rise in their fair cheeks, my lord; then we shall have 'em talk us to silence.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“I'll be as silent as the grave.” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Treasure Island” - 1883

“This grove that was now so peaceful must then have rung with cries, I thought; and even with the thought I could believe I heard it ringing still.” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Treasure Island” - 1883

“As a cloud crosses the sun, silence falls on London; and falls on the mind.” Virginia Woolf, “Mrs Dalloway” - 1925

“Our toil must be in silence, and our efforts all in secret. For in this enlightened age, when men believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest strength.” Bram Stoker, “Dracula” - 1897

“They have a notion, that when people are met together, a short silence does much improve conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much enlivened the...” Jonathan Swift, “Gulliver's Travels” - 1726

“Very well; I hear; I admit, but I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced.” Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness” - 1899

“A lie by day, a lie by night, a lie in every touch and every look; a lie in every caress and every quarrel; a lie in every word and in every silence.” Edith Wharton, “The Age of Innocence” - 1920

“Silence, maiden; thy tongue outruns thy discretion.” Walter Scott, “Ivanhoe” - 1820

“The man as he converses is the lover; silent, he is the husband.” Honoré de Balzac, “Letters of Two Brides” - 1841

“Silence is not always tact and it is tact that is golden, not silence.” Samuel Butler, “The Note-Books of Samuel Butler” - 1912

“I have often admonished my pupils to count ten before speaking. Were I you, Mr. Philander, I should count at least a thousand, and then maintain a discreet silence.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” - 1912

“I know not, but strained silence, so I deem, Is no less ominous than excessive grief.” Sophocles, “Antigone” - c. 441 BC

“It may be thou art right: Unnatural silence signifies no good.” Sophocles, “Antigone” - c. 441 BC

“Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.” Sun Tzu, “The Art of War” - 5th century BC

“The three rules of the Librarians of Time and Space are: 1) Silence; 2) Books must be returned no later than the last date shown; and 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality.” Terry Pratchett, “Guards! Guards!” - 1989

“The world around me is dissolving, leaving here and there spots of time. The world is a cancer eating itself away… I am thinking that when the great silence descends upon all and everywhere music will at last triumph.” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

“In the meantime let us try and converse calmly, since we are incapable of keeping silent.” Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot” - 1953

“For they are the moments when something new has entered us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy embarrassment, everything in us withdraws, a silence arises, and the new experience, which no one knows, stands in the midst of it all...” Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet” - 1929

“When she had failed once or twice to respond to some conversational gambit or other, Bond also relapsed into silence and occupied himself with his own gloomy thoughts.” Ian Fleming, “Casino Royale” - 1953

“Let us have the luxury of silence.” Jane Austen, “Mansfield Park” - 1814

“I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call 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 defence the only...” James Joyce, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” - 1916

“As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.” John Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men” - 1937

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.” George Eliot, “Middlemarch” - 1872

“Most people don’t know how to appreciate silence. They can’t help talking.” Nicholas Sparks, “The Lucky One” - 2008

“All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence.” Haruki Murakami, “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” - 2007

“Too much talking these days. Talk talk talk. This country would get along much better if people learned how to suffer in silence.” Neil Gaiman, “American Gods” - 2001

“Sometimes . . . real love is silent as well as blind.” Stephen King, “The Stand” - 1978

Related topics

speech conversation talking death words belief love infinite life music mind blindness discretion truth God time understanding grief enemies suffering

Related authors

William Shakespeare (6)
James Joyce (2)
Robert Louis Stevenson (2)
Edith Wharton (2)
Honoré de Balzac (2)
Sophocles (2)
Albert Camus (2)
Haruki Murakami (2)
Jane Austen (1)
Oscar Wilde (1)
Lewis Carroll (1)
George Eliot (1)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
Virginia Woolf (1)
Bram Stoker (1)
Jonathan Swift (1)
Joseph Conrad (1)
Thomas Carlyle (1)
Walter Scott (1)

Related sources

Treasure Island (2)
Letters of Two Brides (2)
Antigone (2)
All's Well That Ends Well (1)
The Merchant of Venice (1)
Much Ado About Nothing (1)
King Lear (1)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1)
The Winter's Tale (1)
Henry VIII (1)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1)
Middlemarch (1)
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1)
Mrs Dalloway (1)
Dracula (1)
Gulliver's Travels (1)
Heart of Darkness (1)
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (1)
The Age of Innocence (1)
Ivanhoe (1)