Not being heard is no reason for silence.
[N’être pas écouté, ce n’est pas une raison pour se taire.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 2 “Cosette,” Book 8 “Cemeteries Take What is Given Them,” ch. 1 (2.8.1) (1862) [tr. Wilbour (1862)]
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(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Not to be heard is no reason why a man should hold his tongue.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]That one is not listened to is no reason for preserving silence.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]Not being heard is no reason for silence.
[tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]Not being listened to is no reason to stop talking.
[tr. Donougher (2013)]
Quotations about:
be quiet
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
If thou hast not Sense enough to speak, have Wit enough to hold thy tongue.
We seldom regret talking too little, but very often talking too much. This is a well-known maxim which everybody knows and nobody practices.
[L’on se repent rarement de parler peu, très souvent de trop parler: maxime usée et triviale que tout le monde sait, et que tout le monde ne pratique pas.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 149 (11.149) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
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(Source (French)). Alternate translations:We seldom repent talking too little, but very often talking too much, a common and trivial maxim which every body knows, and no body practices.
[Bullord ed. (1696) and Curll ed. (1713)]We seldom repent talking too little, but very often talking too much; a common obsolete Maxim, which every body knows, and no body practices.
[Browne ed. (1752)]We seldom repent of speaking little, and very often of speaking too much; a well-worn and familiar maxim, that everyone knows but that not everyone practices.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
God gave us teeth to hold back our tongue.
Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Greek proverb
I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1862-08-06), Union (War) Meeting, US Capitol steps, Washington, D. C.
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The true crime, the collective, general crime of almost all Germans of that time was that of lacking the courage to speak.
Primo Levi (1919-1987) Italian Jewish chemist and writer
The Drowned and the Saved, ch. 8 “Letters from Germans” (1986) [tr. Rosenthal (1888)]
(Source)
Regarding the Third Reich and the Holocaust.
To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.
When you have nothing to say, say nothing; a weak defense strengthens your opponent, and silence is less injurious than a bad reply.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 183 (1820)
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