“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”
-Sylvia Plath
“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
“I decided it is better to scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.”
-Nadezhda Mandelstam
“Your silence will not protect you.”
-Audre Lorde
“I’ve begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.”
-Chaim Potok
“Silence is so freaking loud”
-Sarah Dessen
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.”
-Will Rogers
“We went down into the silent garden. Dawn is the time when nothing breathes, the hour of silence. Everything is transfixed, only the light moves.”
-Leonora Carrington
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”
-Ansel Adams
“I need to be alone. I need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; I need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company.”
-Henry Miller
“He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.”
-Elbert Hubbard
“Silence is a source of Great Strength.”
-Lao Tzu
“You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion.”
-Arthur Conan Doyle
“Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.”
-William S. Burroughs
“Seeing her sitting there unresponsive makes me realize that silence has a sound.”
-Jodi Picoult
“On the fifth day, which was a Sunday, it rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.”
-Mark Haddon
“Lying is done with words, and also with silence.”
-Adrienne Rich
“I said nothing for a time, just ran my fingertips along the edge of the human-shaped emptiness that had been left inside me.”
-Haruki Murakami
“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.”
-Mother Teresa
“If you can sit in silence with a person for half an hour and yet be entirely comfortable, you and that person can be friends. If you cannot, friends you’ll never be and you need not waste time in trying.”
-L.M. Montgomery
“Stay with me tonight. Let me hold you even if that’s all it is. Let me keep you safe.”
-Becca Fitzpatrick
