“When he has nothing to say, he lets words speak.”

— Elias Canetti

J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 147
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When he has nothing to say, he lets words speak." by Elias Canetti?

Elias Canetti photo

Elias Canetti43

Bulgarian-born Swiss and British jewish modernist novelist,… 1905–1994

Related quotes

“Therefore, on hearing His words let no one say either: "These are not Christ's words," or "These are not my words." On the contrary, if he knows that he is in the body of Christ, let him say: "These are both Christ's words and my words." Say nothing without Him, and He will say nothing without thee. We must not consider ourselves as strangers to Christ, or look upon ourselves as other than Himself.”

Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher

Source: On the Mystical Body of Christ, p.422

“When a man says he does not want to speak of something he usually means he can think of nothing else.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“Who was it who said that a wise man speaks when he has something to say, but a fool speaks because he must?”

Alastair Reynolds book Chasm City

Source: Chasm City (2001), Chapter 12 (p. 197).

“He may well speak French and Latin and half a dozen languages, but since he has nothing to say – what good are they?”

Philippa Gregory book The Constant Princess

Source: The Constant Princess

“A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

1780, p. 446
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“But if you say: "How am I to know what he means, when I see nothing but the signs he gives?" then I say: "How is he to know what he means, when he has nothing but the signs either?"”

Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations

§ 504
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

“One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say.”

Voltaire book Commentaires sur Corneille

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire.
"Commentaires sur Corneille," Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire (1827)
Citas

“Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.”

E.M. Forster book Maurice

Source: Maurice

“Man, when reduced to nothing, or in other words a survivor, is not tragic but comic, because he has no fate.”

Imre Kertész (1929–2016) Hungarian writer

Liquidation (2003)

“One cannot create an art that speaks to me when one has nothing to say.”

André Malraux (1901–1976) French novelist, art theorist and politician

L'espoir [Man's Hope] (1938)

Related topics