“True silence is really endless speech.”

Abide as the Self

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Ramana Maharshi photo
Ramana Maharshi 75
Indian religious leader 1879–1950

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T.S. Eliot photo

“The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of The Word.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Choruses from The Rock (1934)
Context: O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of The Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Brings us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.

“True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness and utter joy.”

Catherine Doherty (1896–1985) Religious order founder; Servant of God

Source: Poustinia (1975), Ch. 1

Thomas Carlyle photo

“Speech is silvern, Silence is golden; or, as I might rather express it: speech is of time, silence is of eternity.”

As the Swiss inscription says: Sprechen ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden
Bk. III, ch. 3.
1830s, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834)

Thomas Carlyle photo

“Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as Eternity; speech is shallow as Time.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1830s, Sir Walter Scott (1838)

Dejan Stojanovic photo

“In an endless silence even screams sound silent.”

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“Speech is the small change of Silence.”

George Meredith (1828–1909) British novelist and poet of the Victorian era

Source: The Ordeal of Richard Feverel http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4412/4412.txt (1859), Ch. 34.

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“Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

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

Ramana Maharshi photo

“Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence.”

Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) Indian religious leader

Abide as the Self

Edith Wharton photo

“Silence may be as variously shaded as speech.”

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer
W.B. Yeats photo

“Speech after long silence; it is right”

After Long Silence http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1432/
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
Context: Speech after long silence; it is right,
All other lovers being estranged or dead,
Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade,
The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night,
That we descant and yet again descant
Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song:
Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young
We loved each other and were ignorant.

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