quotations about silence
You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.
U. S. POLICE OFFICERS
Miranda Warning
Do not too hastily conclude that silence is indifference. Indifference is not to care, not to act, not even to think or breathe. Indifference is inhuman and inhumane. Silence, on the other hand, is almost always premeditated, a willful act. Without silence there would be no sound.
JUSTIN BRYAN SNIDER
posted on daily quotation board at Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, October 17, 2006
Silence has many beauties.
SOPHOCLES
fragment, The Sons of Aleus
Silence is so freaking loud.
SARAH DESSEN
Just Listen
Be silent or say something better than silence.
PYTHAGORAS
attributed, Forty Thousand Quotations, Prose and Poetical
Silence must be heard.
ENIGMA
"Silence Must Be Heard"
Your silence will not protect you.
AUDRE LORDE
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Silence is the safety zone of conversation.
ARNOLD H. GLASOW
attributed, Reader's Digest, 1975
Be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
All's Well That Ends Well
There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Winter's Tale
Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
WILL ROGERS
attributed, Vaudeville Old & New
To women silence is the best ornament.
SOPHOCLES
Ajax
When Silence speaks for Love, she has much to say.
RICHARD GARNETT
De Flagello Myrtes
My silence will convict me.
REFUSED
"Last Minute Pointer"
Oh Mary of silence
You pick my heart with a smile
Oh sweet Mary
Come inside for a while
Help me get a hold on you
MAZZY STAR
"Mary of Silence"
In positions of power, silence is not an option.
MAGNUS LINKLATER
"In positions of power, silence is not an option", The Times, September 3, 2017
Silence is a profound teacher and a hard taskmaster. Learn her art when it is offered; there is much to hear within her temple!
LY DE ANGELES
Witchcraft: Theory and Practice
Does not everything depend on our interpretation of the silence around us?
LAWRENCE DURRELL
Justine
Often silence is a powerful weapon. If we only knew how valiantly it could serve us in defense we should use it more. Under abuse or attack it may be the sign of guilt; but it may also be a proof of innocence and an unmistakable evidence of nobility.
JOHN DANIEL BARRY
"Silence", Reactions and Other Essays