
Variant: We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
Variant: We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
“Men repent speaking ten times, for once that they repent keeping silence.”
The Dignity of Human Nature (1754)
Context: Men repent speaking ten times, for once that they repent keeping silence.
It is an advantage to have concealed one's opinion; for by that means you may change your judgment of things (which every wise man fmds reason to do) and not be accused of fickleness.
“Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.”
Of Discretion.
Proverbial Philosophy (1838-1849)
1830s, Sir Walter Scott (1838)
“I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.”
Maxim 1070
Sentences, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave
“I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced”
Source: Heart of Darkness
“Speech is the small change of Silence.”
Source: The Ordeal of Richard Feverel http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4412/4412.txt (1859), Ch. 34.
“Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.”
"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.
“Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence.”
Abide as the Self