I will begin to speak, when I have that to say which had not better be unsaid.
Cato the Younger (95-46 BC) Roman politician, statesman, orator [Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, Cato Minor]
In Plutarch, “Cato the Younger,” Parallel Lives [tr. Dryden (1693)]
Quotations about:
silence
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
We who have a voice must speak for the voiceless.
Óscar Romero (1917-1980) El Salvadoran Catholic bishop
(Attributed)
He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.
Charles Péguy (1873-1914) French poet, essayist, editor
“Basic Verities: The Honest People,” Basic Verities: Prose and Poetry [tr. A and J. Green (1943)]
Silence is the first thing within the power of the enslaved to shatter. From that shattering, everything else spills forth.
Robin Morgan (b. 1941) American poet, author, activist, journalist
The Demon Lover, ch. 10 (1989)
Men repent speaking ten times, for once that they repent keeping silence.
James Burgh (1714-1775) British politician and writer
The Dignity of Human Nature, Sec. 5 “Miscellaneous Thoughts on Prudence in Conversation” (1754)
(Source)
It is almost impossible to remain silent in the face of tyranny without, by this very act of silence, becoming an agent of that tyranny.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (b. 1941) American author
Against Therapy, Conclusion (1988)
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 (1986) [tr. Rosenthal (1988)]
Regarding the Third Reich.
Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
De Augmentis Scientiarum [Advancement of Learning], Book 6, ch. 3, Antitheses #31 “Loquacity” (1605)
(Source)
I may be arrested, I may be tried and thrown into jail, but I never will be silent.
Emma Goldman (1869-1940) Lithuanian-American anarchist, activist
“Address to the Jury,” Mother Earth (Jul 1917)
Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [Mahatma Gandhi]
In Harijan (7 Apr 1946)
As we must account for every idle Word, so must we likewise for every idle Silence.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, # 575 (1725)
(Source)
For, though the room was silent, the silence of half a hundred cats is a peculiar thing, like fifty individual silences all piled one on top of another.
Susanna Clarke (b. 1949) British author
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004)
If Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.
George Washington (1732-1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789-1797)
Speech to the Officers at Newburgh (15 Mar 1783)
(Source)
A word spoken is past recalling.
John Clarke (d. 1658) British educator
Proverbs: English and Latine [Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina] (1639)
How often could things be remedied by a word. How often is it left unspoken.
Norman Douglas (1868-1952) Austro-British writer
An Almanac (1945)
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“A Word to Husbands,” Marriage Lines: Notes of a Student Husband (1964)
(Source)
It’s my rule never to lose my temper till it would be detrimental to keep it.
Sean O'Casey (1880-1964) Irish playwright [b. John Casey, a.k.a. Seán O'Cathaseaigh]
“The Plough and the Stars” [1926]
There is, indeed, no wild beast more to be dreaded than a communicative man having nothing to communicate.
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 1 (1862)
If a donkey bray at you, don’t bray at him.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
(Attributed)
Often attributed to Herbert, but not found in his works. Elsewhere listed simply as a proverb.
Sir, calumnies are answer’d best with silence.
People who suffer as I do from nervous complaints can have no great inclination for talking. Nobody can tell what I suffer! — But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.
Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence especially in politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them therefore as you would by an angry bull: it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to Thomas Jefferson Randolph (24 Nov 1808)
(Source)
After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“The Rest is Silence,” Music at Night and Other Essays (1931)
(Source)
Loneliness is never more cruel than when it is felt in close propinquity with someone who has ceased to communicate.
Germaine Greer (b. 1939) Australian-English feminist, reformer, author, educator
The Female Eunuch, “Love: Security” (1970)
(Source)
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
[Ce qu’on ne peut dire et ce qu’on ne peut taire, la musique l’exprime.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
William Shakespeare, Part 1, Book 2, ch. 4 (1864) [tr. Baillot]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translation:
Music expresses that which cannot be said, and which cannot be suppressed.
[tr. Anderson (1891)]
I swore to never be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim; silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) Romanian-American novelist, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate.
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1986)
(Source)
Believe not all thou hearest, nor speak all thou believest.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 323 (1725)
(Source)
Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.
Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1965) American politician (US Senator, Maine)
Speech, Westbrook Junior College (7 Jun 1953)
The cruelest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his teeth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend or a vile calumniator.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Virginibus Puerisque, “Virginibus Puerisque,” sec. 4 (1881)
(Source)
Restrain yourself, old dame, and gloat in silence. I’ll have no jubilation here. It is an impious thing to exult over the slain.
[ἐν θυμῷ, γρηῦ, χαῖρε καὶ ἴσχεο μηδ᾽ ὀλόλυζε:
οὐχ ὁσίη κταμένοισιν ἐπ᾽ ἀνδράσιν εὐχετάασθαι.]Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 22, l. 411ff (22.411) [Odysseus to Eurycleia] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Rieu (1946)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:
Forbear, nor shriek thus, but vent joys as loud.
It is no piety to bemoan the proud.
[tr. Chapman (1616)]
Hold, said he, within
Your joy, and let it not appear in vain;
To glory over dead men is a sin.
[tr. Hobbes (1675), l. 361ff]
Woman, experienced as thou art, control
Indecent joy, and feast thy secret soul.
To insult the dead is cruel and unjust;
Fate and their crime have sunk them to the dust.
[tr. Pope (1725)]
Silent exult, O ancient matron dear!
Shout not, be still. Unholy is the voice
Of loud thanksgiving over slaughter’d men.
[tr. Cowper (1792), ll. 479-480]
Nurse, with a mute heart this my vengeance hail!
Not holy is it o'er the slain to boast.
[tr. Worsley (1861), st. 50]
In heart, dame, joy! but hush! no wild hurrah!
It is not right to vaunt o'er slaughtered men.
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869)]
In thy breast
Confine these transports, aged one! Be calm!
Hence with all exclamations! All the joy
Unhallow'd is that over a slain foe
Would thus exult.
[tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 655ff]
Within thine own heart rejoice, old nurse, and be still, and cry not aloud; for it is an unholy thing to boast over slain men.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]
Rejoice in thy soul, O goodwife, and thy shout of joy refrain,
For nowise is it righteous to boast above the slain.
[tr. Morris (1887)]
Woman, be glad within; but hush, and make no cry. It is not right to glory in the slain.
[tr. Palmer (1891)]
Old woman, rejoice in silence; restrain yourself, and do not make any noise about it; it is an unholy thing to vaunt over dead men.
[tr. Butler (1898)]
In thine own heart rejoice, old dame, but refrain thyself and cry not out aloud: an unholy thing is it to boast over slain men.
[tr. Murray (1919)]
Rejoice within thyself, beldam, and quietly. Keep back that throbbing cry. To make very glad over men's deaths is not proper.
[tr. Lawrence (1932)]
Rejoice
inwardly. No crowing aloud, old woman.
To glory over slain men is no piety.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]
Keep your joy in your heart, old dame; stop, do not raise up
the cry. It is not piety to glory so over slain men.
[tr. Lattimore (1965)]
Rejoice in your heart,
old woman -- peace! No cries of triumph now.
It's unholy to glory over the bodies of the dead.
[tr. Fagles (1996)]
Rejoice in your heart, but do not cry aloud.
It is unholy to gloat over the slain.
[tr. Lombardo (2000), ll. 435-36]
Restrain yourself old woman, and gloat in silence. I'll have no cries of triumph here. It is an impious thing to exult over the slain.
[tr. DCH Rieu (2002)]
It is not a pious action to exult over slain men.
[tr. Verity (2016)]
Old woman, no! Be glad inside your heart, but do not shout. It is not pious, gloating over men who have been killed.
[tr. Wilson (2017)]
Keep your joy to yourself, old woman -- don't exult aloud! It's not decent to vaunt over men that have been killed.
[tr. Green (2018)]
Old woman, you can rejoice
in your own heart -- but don’t cry out aloud.
Restrain yourself. For it’s a sacrilege
to boast above the bodies of the slain.
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 509ff]
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)
To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author and poet.
“Protest,” Poems of Problems (1914)
Mistakenly attributed to Abraham Lincoln by Douglas MacArthur in a 1950 speech, and frequently since then.
It may well be that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition is not the glaring noisiness of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. It may be that our generation will have repent not only for the diabolical actions and vitriolic words of the children of darkness, but also for the crippling fears and tragic apathy of the children of light.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Christian Way of Life in Human Relations,” speech, General Assembly fo the National Council of Churches, St Louis (4 Dec 1957)
(Source)
Often paraphrased: "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." See also here.
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Dorothy Nevill (1826-1913) British society hostess, wit, horticulturalist
Under Five Reigns, ch. 5 (1910)
(Source)
Let us be silent, — so we may hear the whisper of the gods.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Friendship,” Essays: First Series (1841)
Sometimes misquoted as "whispers of the gods."
Discretion is the salt, and fancy the sugar of life; the one preserves, the other sweetens it.
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 1, “Discretion” (1862)
(Source)
The substitution of force for persuasion, among its other disadvantages, has this further drawback, from our present point of view, that it lessens the conscience of a society and breeds hypocrisy. You have not converted a man, because you have silenced him.
John Morley (1838-1923) English statesman, journalist, writer [John, Viscount Morley]
On Compromise, ch. 5 “Realization of Opinion” (1874)
(Source)
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)
(Source)
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon, Selma, Alabama (8 Mar 1965)
Possibly the source of the uncited attributions (or variants) "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" and "The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die."
If all mankind, minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)
(Source)
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, vol. 1, #183 (1820)
MALCOLM: Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 246ff (4.3.246-247) (1606)
(Source)
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
NY World-Telegram & Sun (6 Jun 1958)
Talking is like playing on the harp; there is as much in laying the hand on the strings to stop their vibrations as in twanging them to bring out their music.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“The Trumpet of Conscience,” Steeler Lecture (Nov 1967)