silence

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

Spinoza

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

   

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

  
   

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

  

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

  

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

  

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

   

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

   

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

unattributed

   

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[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

    

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

D.M. Thomas
   
   

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

   

   

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