Quotes About Silence

Deceive not thyself by overexpecting happiness in the married estate…. Remember the nightingales which sing only some months in the spring, but commonly are silent when they have hatched their eggs.

She was a woman of extended silences, I noticed, and she said very little as we walked the streets of La Boca, looking at its brightly colored houses. It was as if she understood that quiet observation was the key to knowing a place, perhaps even the key to life.

Truth bends abashed, and answers not.

A man's silence is wonderful to listen to.

They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably unnecessary between such tried friends.

But no one came. Because no one ever does.

Silence can mock.

I saw old Autumn in the misty mornStand shadowless like silence, listeningTo silence.

The master Wen-yu summed it up when he answered a demand for the First Principle of Ch'an with, "If words could tell you, it would become the Second Principle.

Zen would have our perception of the world, indeed our very thoughts, be nonverbal.

There's no escaping the Taoist adage, "Those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak.

Words can point the way, but the path must be traveled in silence.

Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.

Because, as we are told—a sad old joke, too— Ghosts, like the ladies, never speak till spoke to.

He is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.

If you want to be free, he suggests, if you want to heal your relationship with God, with others and yourself, enter your inner room—the office, where the Divine Therapy takes place. Close the door so you don't run away. Quiet your interior dialogue so that you can listen to what the Spirit is saying to you.

Let Love Alone speak

We share in centering prayer when done in common a reservoir of silence that is enhanced by each one's contribution.

Silence is God's first language; everything else is a poor translation.

As St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) taught, whatever we say about God is more unlike God than saying nothing. If we do say something, it can only be a pointer toward the Mystery that can never be articulated in words. All that words can do is point in the direction of the Mystery.

Don't judge centering prayer on the basis of how many thoughts come or how much peace you enjoy. The only way to judge this prayer is by its long-range fruits: whether in daily life you enjoy greater peace, humility and charity. Having come to deep interior silence, you begin to relate to others beyond the superficial aspects of social status, race, nationality, religion, and personal characteristics. (OM, 114)

Gregory the Great (sixth century), summarizing the Christian contemplative tradition, expressed it as "resting in God." This was the classical meaning of Contemplative Prayer in the Christian tradition for the first sixteen centuries.

O God, You Who are the truth, make me one with You in love everlasting. I am often wearied by the many things I hear and read, but in You is all that I long for. Let the learned be still, let all creatures be silent before You; You alone speak to me.

The less I speak, the more I meditate.