“Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.”
Dionysius I of Syracuse (-430–-367 BC) Sicilian tyrant
Frag. 6, as quoted in Handy-book of Literary Curiosities (1892) by William Shepard Walsh, p. 1009.
“In the act of simply being with another culture there comes the realization of a need for balance, the understanding that there are times when it is better to listen than to ask, better the feel than to think, more appropriate to stay with a silence than to seek answers in speech.”
The Blackfoot Physics (2006)
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F. David Peat14
British physicist 1938–2017Related quotes
“Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.”
Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat
Before the U. S. Senate Committee on Patents (29 January 1886)
“It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers.”
James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright
"The Scotty Who Knew Too Much", The New Yorker (18 February 1939)
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time
“Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.”
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) English writer and poet
Of Discretion.
Proverbial Philosophy (1838-1849)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) Dutch feminist, author
Source: 2010s, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010), Chapter 9, “America” (p. 113)
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928–1979) Fourth President and ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan
pp 79 - 80.
Letter to his daughter (1978)
Context: Life is a love affair. There is a romance with every beauty of nature. I have no hesitation in saving that my most passionate love affair, my most thrilling romance has been with the people. There is an indissoluble marriage between politics and the people. That is why "Man is a political animal" and the state a political theatre. I have been on this stage of the masters for over twenty tumultuous years. I believe I still have a role to play. I believe the people still want me on this stage, but if I have to bow out, I give you the gift of my feelings. You will fight the fight better than me. Your speeches will be more eloquent than my speeches. Your commitment equally total. There will be more youth and vitality in your struggle. Your deeds ill be more daring. I transmit to you the blessing to the most blessed mission. This is the only present I can give you on your birthdays.
Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology
Other
“It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tyron Edwards, p. 525
Context: It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.