“By Silence, the discretion of a man is known: and a fool, keeping Silence, seemeth to be wise.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
The Sayings of the Wise (1555)
“The silence of a wise man is always meaningful.”
— Leo Strauss, book Thoughts on Machiavelli
Source: Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), p. 30
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Leo Strauss78
Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservati… 1899–1973Related quotes
“A fool is known by his Speech; and a wise man by Silence.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
The Sayings of the Wise (1555)
“Euripides was wont to say, "Silence is an answer to a wise man."”
Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Of Bashfulness
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Therefore the wise man is always happy.”
Atque cum perturbationes animi miseriam, sedationes autem vitam efficiant beatam, duplexque ratio perturbationis sit, quod aegritudo et metus in malis opinatis, in bonorum autem errore laetitia gestiens libidoque versetur, quae omnia cum consilio et ratione pugnent, his tu tam gravibus concitationibus tamque ipsis inter se dissentientibus atque distractis quem vacuum solutum liberum videris, hunc dubitabis beatum dicere? atqui sapiens semper ita adfectus est; semper igitur sapiens beatus est.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
Book V, chapter 15, section 43; translated by Andrew P. Peabody
Tusculanae Disputationes – Tusculan Disputations (45 BC)
Context: Now since perturbations of mind create misery, while quietness of mind makes life happy, and since there are two kinds of perturbations, grief and fear having their scope in imagined evils, inordinate joy and desire in mistaken notions of the good, all being repugnant to wise counsel and reason, will you hesitate to call him happy whom you see relieved, released, free from these excitements so oppressive, and so at variance and divided among themselves? Indeed one thus disposed is always happy. Therefore the wise man is always happy.
“Silence is an answer in the eyes of the wise.”
Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
Unidentified Plays, Fragment 977
Variant translation: Silence is true wisdom's best reply. (See Discussion page for sourcing information)
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)
“Silence is the wit of fools, and one of the virtues of the wise.”
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
Le silence est l'esprit des sots<br>Et l'une des vertus du sage. <br class="br">Bernard de Bonnard, "Le Silence," http://books.google.com/books?id=9gAvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR14&dq=%22Et+l%27une+des+vertus+du+sage%22+Bonnard&ei=iyzvR-bFOIa4zASV0PyoBQ#PPA244,M1 L'Almanach des Muses (1776) <br class="br">Misattributed
“silence makes you wise, among the noisemakers”
Josephs Quartzy (1999) Tanzanian actor
Source: Sweetest song I know
“A wise man does not wait to be given, but to always give first.”
Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author
“Silence makes idiots seem wise even for a minute.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Angel's Game
Source: The Angel's Game