Quotes About Silence

XVIII Si le chagrin pouvait Tel un charbon enfoui se consumer, Le cÅ"ur se reposerait calme, L'âme indéchirée serait Tranquille comme une voile ; Mais la nuit entière j'ai regardé Grandir du feu le silence, La cendre grise en douceur s'accroître : Et je remue le réfractaire silex Que délaissent les flammes dans l'âtre, Et le chagrin se remue, et le dextre CÅ"ur gît dans l'impuissance. (p. 31)

Now I must wait and be still and say nothing I don't know, nothing I haven't lived over and over, and that's everything.

How weightless words are when nothing will do. from "Gospel

To be alone then, hearing only breeze, your own breath rising to answer with words you didn't know you knew the pale questions of the full moon, to know for the first time you are without a name or number.

Children's books can break [the] silence. Reading the un-bowdlerized classics of children's literature can help young people understand that racism is not anomalous. It is embedded in the culture, and defended by cultural gatekeepers.

Paul then asked if being managed by Brian would make any difference to the music they played. Brian assured him that it would not. There was a second uneasy silence, again broken by John. "Right then, Brian," he said. "Manage

We don't need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.

Even Cynthia had to remember she was playing deaf and stop herself from crying out.

It struck her as odd and faintly sinister, this lonely city creeping north in silence.

Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared. It requires silence, some form of isolation, and sustained concentration in the presence of an enigmatic thing.

With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!How silently, and with how wan a face!

For the writer under Actually Existing Socialism describing sex is a simple matter: he simply does not do it (the describing, I mean, not the sex).

A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty. But one no longer has the right to say so aloud.

Of course I "prefer boys." But I'm not capable of saying this sentence out loud yet. I discovered my orientation very young, at eleven years old. Even then I knew.

C'est lui qui reprend la parole : et vous ? Vous allez écrire sur cette histoire, n'est-ce pas ? Vous n'allez pas pouvoir vous en empêcher. Je répète que je n'écris jamais sur ma vie, que je suis un romancier. Il sourit : encore un de vos mensonges, pas vrai ? Je souris en retour.

Au moment de nous quitter, nous choisissions de ne pas dire un mot, d'être dans le silence. Il y a une étreinte, un regard. Il n'y a pas de baiser, pas d'au revoir. Il y a juste ton corps en partance et le mien qui reste. Il y a les battements de ton coeur qui s'accélèrent et les miens qui ralentissent. Il y a l'effroi. Il y a le temps derrière nous, et le temps devant nous. Il y a la tendresse qui se brise.

If I shut up, it's just to avoid being confronted by violence. Is it cowardice? Perhaps. I prefer to see it as a kind of necessary self-protection. But I will never change. I will never think: It's bad, or It would be better to be like everyone else, or I will lie to them so that they'll accept me. Never. I stick to who I am. In silence, of course, but it's a proud, stubborn silence.

De vez en cuando un milagro, oro y risas, y de nuevo la esperanza cuando crees que a tu alrededor todo es destrucción y silencio.»

De vez en cuando un milagro, oro y risas, y de nuevo la esperanza cuando crees que a tu alrededor todo es destrucción y silencio.

Las palabras son complicadas. Apenas he hablado en mi vida. Escribo «en mi vida», como si ya estuviera muerto. En el fondo, es verdad. Es la pura y única verdad. Hace mucho tiempo queme siento muerto. Hago como si siguiera viviendo. Mi sentencia está en suspenso, eso es todo.

There comes a moment when the silence between two people can have the purity of a diamond.

Learn when's a good time to shut up

A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words.

O little town of Bethlehem!How still we see thee lie;Above thy deep and dreamless sleepThe silent stars go by;Yet in thy dark streets shinethThe everlasting Light;The hopes and fears of all the yearsAre met in thee tonight.