The correction of silence is what kills; when you know you have transgressed, and your friend says nothing and avoids your eye.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet

Essay (1882-08), “Talk and Talkers (A Sequel),” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 46
    (Source)

Reprinted in Memories and Portraits, ch. 11 (1886).