silence quotes

Adrienne Rich: 

Lying is done with words and also with silence.

Alice Walker: 

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

Bob Dylan: 

I accept chaos. I am not sure whether it accepts me. I know some people are terrified of the bomb. But then some people are terrified to be seen carrying a modern screen magazine. Experience teaches us that silence terrifies people the most.

Cato the Elder: 

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.

Confucius: 

Silence is the true friend that never betrays.

Francis Bacon: 

Silence is the virtue of fools.

Mark Twain: 

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: 

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King, jr.: 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, jr.: 

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

Martin Niemoller: 

In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Martin Niemöller: 

First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.

Rachel Naomi Remen: 

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

Robert Greeleaf: 

Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.

Sally Berger: 

You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut.

Sam Levenson: 

It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it.

Sam Rayburn: 

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.

Thomas Merton: 

It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.

Will Durant: 

One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.