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13 thoughts on Silence



I
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

II
"Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace."
— Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar)

III
"Silence make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying, but the never needing to say that counts."
— Margaret Lee Runbeck
IV
"Silence is sometimes the best answer"
— Dalai Lama XIV

V
"Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over."
— Gloria Naylor

VI
"Silence is a true friend who never betrays.
— Confucius

VII
"Words can never fully say what we want them to say, for they fumble, stammer, and break the best porcelain. The best one can hope for is to find along the way someone to share the path, content to walk in silence, for the heart communes best when it does not try to speak."
Margaret Weis (Dragons of a Lost Star)


VIII
"I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with. "
— Mary Ann Shaffer (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)

IX
"In Silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves."
— Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

X
"Silence may be as variously shaded as speech."
— Edith Wharton


XI
"Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure."
— Henri Nouwen

XII
"Before you speak ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, it is true, does it improve upon the silence?"
— Shirdi Sai Baba

XIII
"Silence is noise to the cluttered mind."
— Lemlem Tsegaw

18 pinky-swear friends shared a thought or two...:

Janet said...

Imagine if there were anti-depressants back in the day...no Sylvia Plath!

Unknown said...

Being deaf I can appreciate your post. Happy T13!

Pop Art Diva Enterprises said...

It has taken me nearly six decades to appreciate the value of silence - maybe because as an artist I learned to block out almost every little sound while I painted. Seriously, I can carry on a whole conversation with someone while I'm creating and never remember a word of it because in the deepest part of my mind I didn't hear a word said by either party - them OR me!! LOL.

I posted 13 of my Famous, Fun & Frightful Martini and Appetizer Recipes for Halloween!

Have a good TT!

Tracie Nall said...

#12 is some great advice that could keep us all out of lots of trouble. #1 is very true. In lots of situations that I look back on, it was easy to move on from thing that my "enemies" said, but the friends who stayed silent in that moment hurt me much worse.

Happy TT!

Alice Audrey said...

Around here, silence is hard to come by.

Journeywoman said...

Good list. One of my favorites is Shakespeare.

"Silence is the perfect herald of joy."

Happy TT.

Celticlibrarian said...

This post immediately brought this (Song? Poem? Spoken word piece?) to mind...

Uniform Choice - Silenced

When there's silence
Friends need not speak
It's understood
Die I would
And when there's silence
Cultures appear as one
Colors are blurred
My brother I heard
When there's silence
Meanings all seem clear
Distractions unknown
Uniformly alone
And when there's silence
Love has no hurt
Despair cannot live
Words take I give

The sound of no sound
Is the most deafening of all
The feeling of no feeling
Is the most painful of all
And yet we must endure
For I do now and forever shall
Love all things that are real
Even when… silence is broken

Ann Bruce said...

A neighbour's kids were screaming all day. I kept praying for silence.

Hazel said...

Many times we do just the opposite of no. 12. Human nature. I like no. 5. Happy Thursday.

Heather said...

Some beautiful quotes. I especially like the second one, but it's actually from The Canterville Ghost (1887) by Oscar Wilde.

Angela's Designs said...

A great collection of quotes. I particularly like: "Before you speak ask yourself ... does it improve upon the silence?"

Deanna @ Kitsch-Slapped said...

Ooh, and don't forget Alanis Morissette's Thank U Silence -- and that line "why are you afraid of silence" in Jagged Little Pill, I think.

My TT is here. :)

jillconyers said...

One of my favorite T13s! As an avid quote collector and someone who has a fondness for silence. Love #8.

i beati said...

fabulous list

Calico Crazy said...

Some days I miss silence, then my daughter goes somewhere and the silence is overwhelming.

Calico Contemplations

Hootin Anni said...

All 13 are super. but the very 1st one lingers for me still....the silence of friends.

Wow..


My Thursday 13 is Halloween Themed jokes...come on over for some laughs. [You'll find it below my Thursday Thunks...scroll down a bit.]

Click HERE

Kristen said...

#4 and #12 are my favorites. With a house full of kids, I love silence because it is so rare!

Paige Prince said...

I love "Silence make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying, but the never needing to say that counts." — Margaret Lee Runbeck Mostly because I had a friendship like that... we didn't need to speak because we were so in tune with each other, we basically read each other's minds. I miss that. :(

I know I'm late, but I got slammed at work yesterday. :( I have two TTs because I have two blogs - a personal blog (fear) and a book blog (my favorite books):
http://mamakitty729.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/087/
http://mamakittysbooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/thursday-thirteen-my-favorite-books.html