I saw old Autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.
—Thomas Hood
Censuring Joseph Stalin at a public meeting, Soviet premier Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was interrupted by a voice from the audience. "You were one of Stalin's colleagues," shouted the heckler. "Why didn't you stop him?"
"Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. There was an agonizing silence in the room. Nobody dared moved a muscle. Then, in a quiet voice, Khrushchev said, "Now you know why.
—Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes
Ask me about my vow of silence.
—Bumper sticker
I don't have to tell you it goes without saying there are some things better left unsaid. I think that speaks for itself. The less said about it, the better.
—George Carlin
I believe that happiness can be found. If I thought otherwise, I should be silent and not make unhappiness the more bitter by discussing it.
—Carl Hilty in Happiness: Essays on the Meaning of Life
When you find yourself about to say something that crosses a line, something that could cause irreparable harm, sometimes the best you can do is just not say that thing.
—Tammara Webber in Where You Are
Unlike women in other countries, our breaking silence is unlikely to have us jailed, "disappeared," or run off the road at night. Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive, and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever.
—Audre Lorde
Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that have made it possible for evil to triumph.
—Haile Selassie
Nothing is stranger or more ticklish than a relationship between people who know each other only by sight, who meet and observe each other daily—no, hourly—and are nevertheless compelled to keep up the pose of an indifferent stranger, neither greeting nor addressing each other, whether out of etiquette or their own whim.
—Thomas Mann
God is silent. Now if only man would shut up.
—Woody Allen
A man's silence is wonderful to listen to.
—Thomas Hardy
Sometimes silence carried more impact than noise.
—Cambria Hebert in #Rev
Silent gratitude isn't very much to anyone.
—Gertrude Stein
Silence makes me nervous cause he doesn't come or go. He just hangs around with his hands in his pockets.
—J.R. Slaughter
One thing I've learned about people is that the easiest way to get them to like you is to shut up and let them do the talking.
—Jesse Andrews in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl