Our second page of quotes and quotations on silence

The world would be happier if people
had the same capacity to be silent
that they have to speak.

Baruch Spinoza

If you have ever sat on a mountaintop and surveyed the country below, you must realize that what you saw was even more beautiful because of the awesome silence which surrounded you. Art galleries maintain a quiet because curators realize that a painting viewed in the midst of noise is less beautiful than when it is contemplated in the midst of silence. One really cannot appreciate the great art treasures housed in museums on days when noisy crowds gather around every object to be viewed. . . . The beauty of art will show itself in greater force in the midst of silence. Not only does silence enhance the beauty of art, but adds to the experience its own sublime beauty. Karl Pruter

Silence is the speech of love, The music of the spheres above. Richard Henry Stoddard

Nothing has changed the nature of people so much as the loss of silence. The invention of printing, technics, compulsory education--nothing has so altered us as this lack of relationship to silence, this fact that silence is no longer taken for granted, as something as natural as the sky above or the air we breathe. We who have lost silence have not merely lost one human quality but our whole structure has been changed thereby. Max Picard

Believe in the unsaid, for the silence of people is nearer the truth than their words. Khalil Gibran

There is a silence that matches our best possibilities when
we have learned to listen to others. We can master the art
of being quiet in order to be able to hear clearly what others
are saying. . . . We need to cut off the garbled static of our own
preoccupations to give to people who want our quiet attention.

Eugene Kennedy

There are times when silence is the most sacred of responses.

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Do not open your mouth
But keep guard over your lips
When you are provoked and angered.

If you speak out in haste
You shall have to atone later
So soothe your soul with silence.

from ancient Sumerian tablets

We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to
learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say
anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must
always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy.
It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with
each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.

Nicholas Sparks

Many a fine sermon doth Nature preach on the ever-new, forever-
transgressed text of silence. It is not the roaring thunder that
smites, but the silent lightning; and gravity, which bindeth worlds
together and keepeth them from falling asunder, is ever silent.
Prettily, too, doth the silent snow cover the ground, and make it
like unto a table spread for a feast: unlike the noisy rain, which,
after making a goodly number of puddles, quickly runneth off.

Ivan Panin

The noblest works, like the temple of Solomon, are brought to perfection in silence.

Arthur Helps

Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself and know that
everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes and
no coincidences; all events are blessings given to us to learn from.

Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross

True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit
what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.

William Penn

silence

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light,
and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.

Mohandas Gandhi

This world desperately needs silence. Most people are addicted
to stress-producing stimuli. Mentally and emotionally, we need
to fast, to clean out the system, to stop overloading it with mean
and unnatural mental pollution. We are deeply afraid of the
silence, the void, the emptiness. That is because a materialistic
prejudice thinks that what cannot be touched does not exist.
The void is not material; it is force.

Marianne Williamson
Illuminata

When there is no time for quiet, there is no time for the soul to grow.

unattributed

[The Native American] believes profoundly in silence—the sign of
perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body
mind and spirit. The people who preserve their selfhood ever calm
and unshaken by the storms of existence—not a leaf, as it were, astir
on the tree; not a ripple upon the surface of the shining pool—theirs,
in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life.
If you ask: “What are the fruits of silence?” he or she will say: “They
are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and
reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character.”

Ohiyesa (Charles Eastman)

A friend of mine took a Zen Buddhist monk to hear the Boston
Symphony Orchestra perform Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
His comment was, "Not enough silence."

Winthrop Sargent

Now all my teachers are dead except silence.

W.S. Merwin

The hunger for solitude visits each of us at various points in our
development as whole, healthy human beings. It's in our solitude
that we come to know ourselves, to appreciate the many nuances
that distinguish us from others. It's in the stillness that we detect
our soul's inclinations. The privacy of silence offers us the answers
we need. The distractions that stood in our way no longer fetter us
when we've invited solitude to be our guest. We need time away
from others, from the chaos of our job, families, and society if we
are to find, once again, the clarity we need to make
the best forward movement.

Karen Casey
The Promise of a New Day

Life teaches us silently while people utter their instructions in loud voices.

Paul Brunton

Her hearing was better than his, and she heard silences he was unaware of.

D.M. Thomas

Only silence is great; all else is weakness.

Alfred de Vigny

Speech is of time, silence is of eternity.

Thomas Carlyle

The greatest fault of the day is the absence of stillness. Stillness is
nowadays often taken as leisureliness or as slowness. Modern people
lack concentration and carry with them an atmosphere of restlessness;
with all their knowledge and progress they feel uncomfortable
themselves, and unintentionally bring discomfort to others. Stillness
is therefore the most important lesson that can be
taught to the youth of today.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

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Take time to be quiet. This is something that we don't do enough
in this busy world of ours. We rush, rush, rush, and we are constantly
listening to noise all around us. The human heart was meant for times
of quiet, to peer deep within. It is when we do this that our hearts
are set free to soar and take flight on the wings of our own dreams!
Schedule some quiet "dream time" this week. No other people. No
cell phone. No computer. Just you, a pad, a pen, and your thoughts.

Jim Rohn

Silence is the great teacher and to learn its lessons you must
pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative
inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing
how to contact your core of inner silence.

Deepak Chopra

People talk about the silence of nature, but of course
there is no such thing. What they mean is that
our voices are still, our noises absent.

Sue Halpern

Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence
in us. Not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard
withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of
acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other
silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something
beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life. Silence is a place
of great power and healing. Silence is God's lap.

Rachel Naomi Remen
My Grandfather's Blessings

This withdrawal from the day's turmoil into creative silence is not a luxury,
a fad, or a futility. It is a necessity, because it tries to provide the conditions
wherein we are able to yield ourselves to intuitive leadings, promptings,
warnings, teachings, and counsels and also to the inspiring peace
of the soul. It dissolves mental tensions and heals negative emotions.

Paul Brunton
The Notebooks of Paul Brunton

Old Hawk lapsed into another period of silence, but a longer
silence than before. Jeremy, however, was familiar with this
habit. All elders had a way of using silence to speak for them.
And the young man did what was expected of him: He waited.

Keep Going

silence

Silence is a great peacemaker.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence.

Marianne Moore

Be silent and safe--silence never betrays you.

John Boyle O'Reilly

Silence alone can bring two hearts together.

Karl Pruter

Practice silence and you will acquire silent knowledge. In this silent
knowledge is a computing system that is far more precise and far more
accurate and far more powerful than anything that is contained
in the boundaries of rational thought.

Deepak Chopra

If we want to understand the essence of silence, we need only think
of those moments in life when the silence of love becomes a reality
for us. We are referring to the delicate mutual understanding of those
in love or of friends, which can perfectly express itself
in mere being together, jointly contemplating.

Landislaus Boros

In music we gain a sense of rhythm through the absence of sound.
A similar process occurs in communication between two people.

Sheldon Roth

Articles and book excerpts on silence:

A Place of Refuge      Rachel Naomi Remen
The Secret of the Masters--Yours!      Asoka Selvarajah
The Need to Become Silent in a Noisy World     Mike Moore

There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing.
There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different
from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and
before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of
emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt. There is a certain silence
that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from
a piano with old dust upon its keys, or from anything that has answered to
the need of a man, for pleasure or for work. This kind of silence can speak.
Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have
been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been
raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of
its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo.

Beryl Markham

Silence is the source of healing. When we bring things from within ourselves
out into the light of awareness, a healing process happens. In the silence,
we can let go of all anger, sadness, fear, loneliness and frustration.

Swami Dhyan Giten
Presence--Working from Within

From the spiritual side:

The necessity of inward stillness has appeared clearly to my mind.
In true silence strength is renewed, the mind is weaned from all
things save as they may be enjoyed in the divine Will.

John Woolman

Quiet is scary. In the absence of sound, we're keenly aware of
ourselves and our thoughts. We might even hear messages coming
straight from our souls that we ordinarily try to drown out with car
horns and Muzak. But that's exactly why silence is such a highly
spiritual concept. We observe "a moment of silence" at funerals and
memorial services to honor the memory of the dead. We pray
wordlessly in church and sing of the "silent night" that is considered
one of the holiest in history. Some religious orders even require their
members to spend most or all of their days in quiet, so that God can
enter at will without having to cut through a tiresome stream of chatter.

Shana Aborn
Thirty Days to a More Spiritual Life

My times of silence before God are very important to me now. I put everything
else down, every word away, and I am with the Lord. When I'm quiet, life falls
into perspective for me. I have a very active mind and I'm a worrier, but in those
moments when I choose to put that away, I rest beside the Shepherd in still places.
Why don't you give yourself a gift today? Turn off the television or the car
stereo, put down the newspaper or the business plan, and in the quietness,
rest for a while beside the Shepherd of your soul.

Sheila Walsh

God has spoken very boldly about his desire to be a presence in
our lives. If I want to heal the ache and loneliness in my own life,
one of the things I need to do is get away, alone with God. . . .
In the silence God will speak to you most powerfully. Too often
his words to us get muffled, lost, or covered by the crowd of
many noises both inside and outside of us. We must have a
quiet heart in order to hear God's distinctive message to us.

Tim Hansel