“All Profound things, and emotions of things are preceded and attended by Silence.”
Bk. XIV, ch. 1
Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852)
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Herman Melville 144
American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818–1891Related quotes
Vol. II, p. 30
1980s, Letters to the Schools (1981, 1985)
Context: Attention involves seeing and hearing. We hear not only with our ears but also we are sensitive to the tones, the voice, to the implication of words, to hear without interference, to capture instantly the depth of a sound. Sound plays an extraordinary part in our lives: the sound of thunder, a flute playing in the distance, the unheard sound of the universe; the sound of silence, the sound of one’s own heart beating; the sound of a bird and the noise of a man walking on the pavement; the waterfall. The universe is filled with sound. This sound has its own silence; all living things are involved in this sound of silence. To be attentive is to hear this silence and move with it.
“Let’s set a precedent and try to approach this thing logically.”
Source: The Probability Pad (1970), Chapter 2 (p. 20)
“The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you.”
As quoted in "The Michener Phenomenon" by Caryn James in The New York Times (8 September 1985)
“As shadows attend substances, so words follow upon things.”
Study of Words; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 907.
