Many things that human words have upset are set at rest again by the silence of animals. Animals move through the world like a caravan of silence. A whole world, that of nature and that of animals, is filled with silence. Nature and animals seem like protuberances of silence. The silence of animals and the silence of nature would not be so great and noble if it were merely a failure of language to materialize. Silence has been entrusted to the animals and to nature as something created for its own sake.

silence nature animals

About Max Picard

Max Picard (5 June 1888 in Schopfheim, Baden, Germany – 3 October 1965 in Sorengo, Switzerland) was a German-Swiss writer and philosopher.

More quotations tagged with “animals”

The sense of smell in the animal is what intuition is to the human spirit. It tells you of the invisible, of what cannot be detected by any other means. It tells you the things that are not there, yet are coming. You see into the blind, opaque past and round the corner of time.

—Laurens Van der Post

invisible spirit smell animals blindness

Some animals, like some men, leave a trail of glory behind them. They give their spirit to the place where they have lived, and remain forever a part of the rocks and streams and the wind and sky.

—Marguerite Henry

life achievement permanence animals glory

We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.

words suffering feelings animals

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls, and they say, "Because it's such a beautiful animal. " There you go. Well, I think my mother's attractive, but I have photographs of her.

—Ellen DeGeneres

animals hunting photographs

It can truly be said: Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are the tormented souls.

—Arthur Schopenhauer

evil animals cruelty animal cruelty

History

26 Apr 2014 Added