“Nun 2: (Very quietly) Sir, be grateful for the music. Most of us die in silence.”

“The bullets bursted [sic] at the time of the war, and we used to die with bullets, but now let us die quietly.”

“Music and silence… combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.”

“Men will not always die quietly.”

“The greatest and most powerful revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows. Remember that.”

“Most people die with their music still locked up inside them.”

“Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living
Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,
Can words or music reach
The stillness…”

“There is a music for lonely hearts nearly always.
If the music dies down there is a silence.
Almost the same as the movement of music.
To know silence perfectly is to know music.”

“Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.”

“The murderer smiles palely in wine,
Death's horror grips the sick.
Excoriated and naked, the nun prays
Before the Savior's agony on the cross.

The mother sings quietly in sleep.
Peacefully the child looks into the night
With eyes that are completely truthful.
In the whorehouse laughter rings.

By candlelight down in the cellar hole
The dead one paints with white hand
A grinning silence on the wall.
The sleeper whispers still.”