Thought is silence. [ Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan ]
Silence seldom hurts. [ Proverb ]
Silence gives consent. [ Proverb ]
Silence catches a mouse. [ Proverb ]
Silence, beautiful voice. [ Tennyson ]
Hushed as midnight silence. [ Dryden ]
Still people are dangerous. [ La Fontaine ]
Give thy thoughts no tongue. [ Shakespeare ]
Unreasonable silence is folly. [ Proverb ]
Come then, expressive Silence. [ Thomson ]
I'll speak to thee in silence. [ William Shakespeare ]
Great souls endure in silence. [ Friedrich Schiller ]
Silence is the mother of truth. [ Benjamin Disraeli ]
Silence sweeter is than speech. [ D. M. Mulock ]
Their silence is praise enough. [ Ter ]
In silence sad.
Trip we after the night's shade;
We the globe can compass soon.
Swifter than the wandering moon. [ William Shakespeare ]
Silence never makes any blunders. [ H. W. Shaw ]
Speak fitly, or be silent wisely. [ George Herbert ]
The unspoken word never does harm. [ Kossuth ]
And silence, like a poultice, comes
To heal the blows of sound. [ O. W. Holmes ]
Silence gives (or implies) consent. [ Proverb ]
There is no diplomacy like silence. [ Beaconsfield ]
Silence is the eternal duty of man. [ Carlyle ]
The silent man still suffers wrong. [ J. P. Collier ]
Silence more musical than any song. [ Christina G. Rossetti ]
Nothing is more useful than silence. [ Menander ]
It comes -- the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity -
In silence and alone
To seek the elected one. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Endymion ]
Speech is silver, silence is golden. [ Carlyle ]
No concealing folly save by silence.
Silence is more eloquent than words. [ Carlyle ]
Silence does not always mean wisdom. [ Coleridge ]
Silent anguish is the more dangerous. [ Racine ]
Silence is the sanctuary of prudence. [ Balthasar Gracian ]
The silence that is in the starry sky. [ Wordsworth ]
Muses were dumb while Apollo lectured. [ Lamb ]
Silence is the chaste blossom of love. [ Heine ]
To a wounded heart, silence and shadow. [ Balzac ]
More have repented speech than silence. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
Silently as a dream the fabric rose;
No sound of hammer or of saw was there. [ Cowper ]
The holiest of holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart,
The secret anniversaries of the heart. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]
Silence is better than unmeaning words. [ Pythagoras ]
Speech is of time, silence is eternity. [ Carlyle ]
Silence in woman is like speech in man. [ Ben Jonson ]
Not much talk, - a great, sweet silence. [ Henry James, Jr ]
It is the little rift within the lute
That by and by will make the music mute,
And, ever widening, slowly silence all. [ Alfred Tennyson ]
Speech is great, but silence is greater. [ Carlyle ]
Thought will not work except in silence. [ Carlyle ]
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence. [ Keats ]
The temple of silence and reconciliation. [ Macaulay ]
Silence is one great art of conversation. [ Hazlitt ]
The deepest rivers make least din,
The silent soule doth most abound in care. [ Earl of Stirling ]
The breathing miracle into silence passed! [ Gerald Massey ]
Now sunk the sun; the closing hour of day,
Came onward, mantled over with sober grey;
Nature in silence bid the world repose. [ Parnell ]
In silence weep, and thy convulsive sorrow
Inward keep. [ Prior ]
To women silence gives their proper grace. [ Sophocles ]
Silence is wisdom, when speaking is folly. [ Proverb ]
Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes. [ Homer ]
Silence in times of suffering is the best. [ Dryden ]
Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence yet I picked a welcome. [ William Shakespeare ]
Silence is a friend that will never betray. [ Confucius ]
Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. [ Bacon ]
Silence is a true friend who never betrays. [ Confucius ]
How sweetly did they float upon the wings
Of silence through the empty-vaulted night.
At every fall smoothing the raven down
Of darkness till it smiled! [ Milton ]
Silence that wins, where eloquence is vain. [ William Hayley ]
Silence is less injurious than a weak reply. [ Colton ]
In the company of strangers silence is safe. [ Proverb ]
Thou hast wounded the spirit that loved thee
And cherished thine image for years;
Thou hast taught me at last to forget thee,
In secret, in silence, and tears. [ Mrs. David Porter ]
Existence may be borne, and the deep root
Of life and sufferance make its firm abode
In bare and desolate bosoms: mute
The camel labors with the heaviest load.
And the wolf dies in silence: Not bestowed
In vain should such examples be; if they.
Things of ignoble or of savage mood,
Endure and shrink not, we of nobler clay
May temper it to bear - it is but for a day. [ Byron ]
Silence is not the greatest vice of a woman. [ Proverb ]
They only babble who practice not reflection,
I shall think - and thought is silence. [ Sheridan ]
Gradual sinks the breeze,
Into a perfect calm; that not a breath
I heard to quiver thro' the closing woods,
Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves,
Of aspen tall. The uncurling floods diffused?
In glassy breadth, seen through delusive lapse
Forgetful of their course. 'Tis silence all.
And pleasing expectation. [ Thomson ]
Silence is the consummate eloquence of sorrow. [ W. Winter ]
Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden sceptre over a slumbering world.
Silence, how dead! and darkness, how profound!
Nor eye, nor listening ear, an object finds;
Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and nature made a pause;
An awful pause! prophetic of her end. [ Young ]
Do you think a woman's silence can be natural? [ Farquhar ]
Silence and solitude, the soul's best friends. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]
Stillness accompanied with sound so soft,
Charms more than silence. Meditation here
May think down hours to moments. Here the heart
May give an useful lesson to the head,
And learning wiser grow without his books. [ Cowper ]
Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence. [ Alfieri ]
A brute always imposes silence on the delicate. [ A. de Gasparin ]
Fair eldest child of love, thou spotless night!
Empress of silence, and the queen of sleep;
Who, with thy black cheek's pure complexion,
Mak'st lovers' eyes enamoured of thy beauty. [ Marlowe ]
Be silent and safe - silence never betrays you. [ John Boyle O'Reilly ]
The temple of our purest thoughts is - silence! [ Mrs. Hale ]
Be silent, or say something better than silence. [ Pythagoras ]
There is likewise a reward for faithful silence. [ Horace ]
Not to hear conscience is the way to silence it. [ Proverb ]
Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. [ Cicero ]
Nothing at times is more expressive than silence. [ George Eliot ]
Be checked for silence, but never taxed for speech. [ William Shakespeare ]
Silence is learned by the many misfortunes of life. [ Seneca ]
If a word be worth one shekel, silence is worth two. [ Rabbi Ben Azai ]
How absolute and omnipotent is the silence of night! [ Longfellow ]
If a word be worth a shilling, silence is worth two. [ Proverb ]
We can refute assertions, but who can refute silence? [ Dickens ]
Silence is deep as eternity; speech is shallow as time. [ Carlyle ]
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. [ Bible ]
Silence, - the applause of real and durable impressions. [ Lamartine ]
Be silent, or say something that is better than silence. [ German Proverb ]
Life is a mournful silence in which the heart ever calls. [ Lamartine ]
Let us be silent, so we may hear the whisper of the gods. [ Emerson ]
Solitude is the home of the strong; silence, their prayer. [ Ravignan ]
Silence is the best resolve for him who distrusts himself. [ La Roche ]
Nothing preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing. [ Benjamin Franklin ]
Silence is a fine jewel for a woman, but it is little worn. [ Proverb ]
However talkative a woman may be, love teaches her silence. [ Rochebrune ]
A beggar that is dumb, you know, may challenge double pity. [ Sir Walter Raleigh ]
Her eye in silence hath a speech which eye best understands. [ Southwell ]
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing.
Only a signal shewn and a distant voice in the darkness:
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another.
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]
Silence has been given to woman to better express her thoughts. [ Desnoyers ]
By silence, I hear other men's imperfections and conceal my own. [ Zeno ]
Silence is the wit of fools, and one of the virtues of the wise. [ Bonnard ]
I regret often that I have spoken, never that I have been silent. [ Publius Syrus ]
If thou desire to be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue. [ Quarles ]
Brevity is the child of silence, and is a credit to its parentage. [ H. W. Shaw ]
We may give more offense by our silence than even by impertinence. [ Hazlitt ]
One can impose silence on sentiment, but one cannot give it limits. [ Mme. Necker ]
Silence is a good receipt against such faults as may cause offense. [ Proverb ]
Silence, when nothing need be said, is the eloquence of discretion. [ Bovee ]
Mind and night will meet, though in silence, like forbidden lovers. [ Bailey ]
Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech. [ Plutarch ]
The silence often of pure innocence persuades, when speaking fails. [ William Shakespeare ]
Midnight brought on the dusky hour friendliest to sleep and silence. [ Milton ]
What manly eloquence could produce such an effect as woman's silence? [ Michelet ]
And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain was the silence. [ Longfellow ]
It is only reason that teaches silence. The heart teaches us to speak. [ Richter ]
Youth and Will may resist excess, but Nature takes revenge in silence. [ A. de Musset ]
It is the fate of a woman
Long to be patient and silent, to wait like a ghost that is speechless,
Till some questioning voice dissolves the spell of its silence. [ Longfellow ]
A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity. [ De Sales ]
Learn to hold thy tongue. Five words cost Zacharias forty weeks silence. [ Fuller ]
Silence is not only never thirsty, but also never brings pain or sorrow. [ Hippocrates ]
A man of virtue, judgment, and prudence speaks not until there is silence. [ Saadi ]
As we must account for every idle word, so we must for every idle silence. [ Franklin ]
Not every one who has the gift of speech understands the value of silence. [ Lavater ]
There are some silent people who are more interesting than the best talkers. [ Earl of Beaconsfield ]
Silence is a figure of speech, unanswerable, short, cold, but terribly severe. [ Theodore Parker ]
To be silent is but a small virtue; but it is a serious fault to reveal secrets. [ Ovid ]
Her full heart - its own interpreter - translates itself in silence on her cheek. [ Amelia B. Welby ]
True gladness doth not always speak; joy bred and born but in the tongue is weak. [ Ben Jonson ]
Silence is the sanctuary of prudence. It conceals not merely secrets, but blemishes. [ Zachariä ]
And they three passed over the white sands, between the rocks, silent as the shadows. [ Coleridge ]
I shall leave the world without regret, for it hardly contains a single good listener. [ Fontenelle ]
The scandal of the world is what makes the offense: it is not sinful to sin in silence. [ Moliere, Tartufe ]
Silence and discretion are specially becoming in a woman, and to remain quietly at home. [ Euripides ]
There is nothing wherein their womanliness is more honestly garnished than with silence. [ Nicholas Udall ]
Silence often expresses more powerfully than speech the verdict and judgment of society. [ Benjamin Disraeli ]
Silence and simplicity obtrude on no one, but are yet two unequaled attractions in woman. [ Lamartine ]
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy if I could say how much. [ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing ]
Still as the peaceful walks of ancient night; silent as are the lamps that burn on tombs. [ William Shakespeare ]
Three Silences there are: the first of speech, The second of desire, the third of thought. [ Longfellow ]
Silence and chaste reserve is woman's genuine praise, and to remain quiet within the house. [ Euripides ]
To check the starts and sallies of the soul, and break off all its commerce with the tongue. [ Addison ]
If we should leave out of conversation scandal, gossip, commonplaces, fatuity - what silence! [ Mme. Bachi ]
Silence is a solvent that destroys personality, and gives us leave to be great and universal. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
The silence that accepts merit as the most natural thing in the world is the highest applause. [ Emerson ]
You will find that silence, or very gentle words, are the most exquisite revenge for reproaches. [ Judge Hale ]
Silence holds the door against the strife of tongue and all the impertinences of idle conversation. [ James Hervey ]
There is an eloquent silence which serves to approve or to condemn: there is a silence of discretion and of respect. [ La Rochefoucauld ]
The people have the right to murmur, but they have also the right to be violent, and their silence is the lesson of kings. [ Jean de Beauvais ]
Bees will not work except in darkness; thought will not work except in silence; neither will virtue work except in secrecy. [ Carlyle ]
Love silence rather than speech in these tragic days, when for very speaking the voice of man has fallen inarticulate to man. [ Carlyle ]
Silence, silence; and be distant, ye profane, with your jargonings and superficial babblements, when a man has anything to do. [ Carlyle ]
Everything falls and is effaced. A few feet under the ground reigns so profound a silence, and yet, so much tumult on the surface! [ Victor Hugo ]
Neglect will banish love, kill a lie, and silence slander; yet it will feed a malady, nourish hatred, and fill a garden with weeds. [ E. P. Day ]
There is an exchange of thought and feeling which is happy alike in speech and in silence. It is quietness pervaded with friendship. [ Henry van Dyke ]
Jesus wept once; possibly more than once. There are times when God asks nothing of His children except silence, patience, and tears. [ Charles S. Robinson ]
I think I am rather fond of silent people myself. I cannot bear to live with a person who feels compelled to talk because he is my companion. [ Disraeli ]
Everything comes and goes. Today in joy, tomorrow in sorrow. We advance, we retreat, we struggle; then, the eternal and profound silence of death! [ Victor Hugo ]
Fame may be compared to a scold; the best way to silence her is to let her alone, and she will at last be out of breath in blowing her own trumpet. [ Fuller ]
Love delights in paradoxes. Saddest when it has most reason to be gay, sighs are the signs of its deepest joy, and silence the expression of its yearning tenderness. [ Bovee ]
Abuse is often of service. There is nothing so dangerous to an author as silence. His name, like a shuttlecock, must be beat backward and forward, or it falls to the ground. [ Johnson ]
The great silent man! Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world, - words with little meaning, actions with little worth, - one loves to reflect on the great Empire of Silence. [ Carlyle ]
There is a silence, the child of love, which expresses everything, and proclaims more loudly than the tongue is able to do; there are movements that are involuntary proofs of what the soul feels. [ Alfieri ]
A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words. Character is like bells which ring out sweet music, and which, when touched accidentally even, resound with sweet music. [ Phillips Brooks ]
Fame has no necessary conjunction with praise; it may exist without the breath of a word: it is a recognition of excellence which must be felt, but need not be spoken. Even the envious must feel it, - feel it, and hate in silence. [ Washington Allston ]
The iron hand of necessity commands, and her stern decree is supreme law, to which the gods even must submit. In deep silence rules the uncounselled sister of eternal fate. Whatever she lays upon thee, endure; perform whatever she commands. [ Goethe ]
How dear the sure counsel of a present friend, whose heavenly power failing, the lonely one sinks in silence; for earnest thought and resolution, locked within his breast, are slowly ripened; the presence of the loved one soon warms them into being. [ Goethe ]
In the use of the tongue God hath distinguished us from beasts, and by the well or ill using it we are distinguished from one another; and therefore, though silence be innocent as death, harmless as a rose's breath to a distant passenger, yet it is rather the state of death than life. [ Jeremy Taylor ]
If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble. The proud heart, as it loves none but itself, is beloved of none. By itself, the voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric. Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail, nor reason. [ Enchiridion ]
Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world, words with little meaning, actions with little worth, one loves to reflect on the great empire of silence. The noble silent men, scattered here and there each in his department, silently thinking, silently working; whom no morning newspaper makes mention of. [ Carlyle ]
There is nothing more necessary to establish reputation than to suspend the enjoyment of it. He that cannot bear the sense of merit with silence must of necessity destroy it; for fame being the genial mistress of mankind, whoever gives it to himself insults all to whom he relates any circumstance to his own advantage. [ Steele ]
Eloquence is the language of nature, and cannot be learned in the schools; the passions are powerful pleaders, and their very silence, like that of Garrick, goes directly to the soul, but rhetoric is the creature of art, which he who feels least will most excel in; it is the quackery of eloquence, and deals in nostrums, not in cures. [ Colton ]
Whatever of goodness emanates from the soul, gathers its soft halo in the eyes; and if the heart be a lurking place of crime, the eyes are sure to betray the secret. A beautiful eye makes silence eloquent, a kind eye makes contradiction assent, an enraged eye makes beauty a deformity; so you see, forsooth, the little organ plays no inconsiderable, if not a dominant, part. [ Frederick Saunders ]
For ages the world has been waiting and watching; millions, with broken hearts, have hovered around the yawning abyss; but no echo has come back from the engulfing gloom - silence, oblivion, covers all. If indeed they survive; if they went away whole and victorious, they give us no signals. We wait for years, but no messages come from the far-away shore to which they have gone. [ Bishop R. S. Foster ]
A beautiful eye makes silence eloquent, a kind eye makes contradiction an assent, an enraged eye makes beauty deformed. This little member gives life to every other part about us; and I believe the story of Argus implies no more than that the eye is in every part; that is to say, every other part would be mutilated were not its force represented more by the eye than even by itself. [ Joseph Addison ]
How absolute and omnipotent is the silence of night! And yet the stillness seems almost audible! From all the measureless depths of air around us comes a half-sound, a half-whisper, as if we could hear the crumbling and falling away of earth and all created things, in the great miracle of nature, decay and reproduction, ever beginning, never ending, - the gradual lapse and running of the sand in the great hour-glass of Time. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]
It is good for any man to be alone with nature and himself, or with a friend who knows when silence is more sociable than talk, In the wilderness alone, there where nature worships God.
It is well to be in places where man is little and God is great, where what he sees all around him has the same look as it had a thousand years ago, and will have the same, in all likelihood, when he has been a thousand years in his grave. It abates and rectifies a man, if he is worth the process. [ Sydney Smith ]