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

- Baruch Spinoza

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.

- Rachel Naomi Remen

When thought is closed in caves, then love will show its roots in deepest hell.

- William Blake

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

- Elie Wiesel

Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life. Silence is a place of great power and healing.

- Rachel Naomi Remen

For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.

- Audre Lorde

Sometimes there is a greater lack of communication in facile talking than in silence.

- Faith Baldwin

To a poet, silence is an acceptable response, even a flattering one.

- Colette

A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.

- Margaret Atwood

When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.

- Audre Lorde

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

- Dorothy Nevill

Silence more musical than any song.

- Christina Rossetti

There are two great rules of life: never tell everything at once.

- Ken Venturi

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.

- Cato the Elder

And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness.

- T. S. Eliot

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

- Will Durant



When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church -- and there was nobody left to be concerned. (as printed in The Congressional Record, October 14, 1968)

- Martin Niemoller



A world community can exist only with world communication, which means something more than extensive short-wave facilities scattered about the globe. It means common understanding, a common tradition, common ideas, and common ideals.

- Robert M. Hutchins



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.

- Martin Niemoller



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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.



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

- Sally Berger



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 Niemoller



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.

- Thomas Merton



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

- Sam Rayburn



Lying is done with words and also with silence.

- Adrienne Rich



Silence is the virtue of fools.

- Francis Bacon



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

- Mark Twain



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.

- Bob Dylan



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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.



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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.



Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

- Proverbs 17:28



Silence is the true friend that never betrays.

- Confucius



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

- Alice Walker