“If what one has to say is not better than silence, then one should keep silent.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“A man can keep silence in such a ways that no one will even notice it. The whole point is that we say a good deal too much. If we limited ourselves to what is actually necessary, this alone would be keeping the silence.”
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
Context: A man can keep silence in such a ways that no one will even notice it. The whole point is that we say a good deal too much. If we limited ourselves to what is actually necessary, this alone would be keeping the silence. And it is the same with everything else, with food, with pleasures, with sleep; with everything there is a limit to what is necessary. After this "sin" begins. This is something that must be grasped, a "sin" is something which is not necessary.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "A man can keep silence in such a ways that no one will even notice it. The whole point is that we say a good deal too m…" by G. I. Gurdjieff?
G. I. Gurdjieff62
influential spiritual teacher, Armenian philosopher, compos… 1866–1949Related quotes
“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)
“Of keeping silence few have paid the cost;
Of having said too much, a countless host.”
Francesco Berni (1497–1535) Italian poet
Pochi si son del silenzio pentiti;
De l'aver troppo parlato, infmiti.
XLI, 3.
Rifacimento of Orlando Innamorato
Maimónides (1138–1204) rabbi, physician, philosopher
Source: Hilkhot De'ot (Laws Concerning Character Traits), Chapter 2, Section 4, p. 32
“[W]e are none of us very good at silence. It says too much.”
Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian
Telling the Truth (1977)
“What keeps my heart awake is colorful silence.”
Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter
“We have medicines to make women speak; we have none to make them keep silence.”
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
Nous avons des remèdes pour faire parler les femmes; nous n'en avons pas pour les faire taire.
La Comédie de celui qui épousa une femme muette [The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife] (1912), Act II, sc. iv
Robert Sarah (1945) Roman Catholic bishop
The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise (2017)
Marat, act 1, scene 15 (p. 34)
Marat/Sade (1963)
