"The Three Fish" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 196<br>Variant translations or adaptations:<br>Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.<br>As quoted in Teachers of Wisdom (2010) by Igor Kononenko, p. 134<br>Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.<br>As quoted in "Rumi’s wisdom" (2 October 2015) http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/10/02/character-of-the-week-rumi/, by Paulo Coelho <br class="br">The Essential Rumi (1995) <br class="br">Context: Silence<br>is an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk<br>into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,<br>and bring your talky business to an end Traditional words are just babbling<br>in that presence, and babbling is a substitute<br>for sight.