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Silence has the power to transform our lives for the better and bring us closer to enlightenment.
However, sitting in silent contemplation can be challenging for many of us who are used to hearing the noises of daily life. Nevertheless, incorporating periods of silence into your daily routine can be one of the most rewarding habits that promotes personal development.
For this article, we’ve compiled 35 silence quotes to better understand the powerful and transformative nature of silence.
Before we get to the quotes, let’s briefly go over some of the things we can learn from spending time in quiet contemplation.
Things That Silence Can Teach Us
May the following quotes inspire you to experience the transformation that can be found while sitting in silent reflection.
- “Learn to be quiet enough to hear the genuine within yourself so that you can hear it in others.” – Marian Wright Edelman
- “A little quiet reflection will remind me that yes to God always leads in the end to joy.” – Elisabeth Elliot
- “The first great thing is to find yourself and for that you need solitude and contemplation – at least sometimes. I can tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing noisy centers of civilization. It will come from the lonely places.” – Fridtjof Nansen
- “Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.” – Plutarch
- “How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.” – Virginia Woolf
- “Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than the silence.” – Spanish Proverb
- “Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” – Francis Bacon
- “I have no opposition at all to technology. I think technology is a wonderful thing that has to be used thoughtfully, and we can't just assume that every bit of new technology improves the quality of life; it's really in how the technology is used. What I am very disturbed about is this trend of everything happening faster and faster and faster and there being more and more general noise in the world, and less and less time for quiet reflection on who we are, and where we're going.” – Alan Lightman
- “If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet…maybe we could understand something.” – Federico Fellini
- “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” – Albert Einstein
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” – Albert Einstein
- “Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.” – William L. Shirer
- “Noise creates illusions. Silence brings truth.” – Maxime Lagacé
- “I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.” – Publilius Syrus
- “There are five stages of meditation, each one leading gradually into the next: concentration, meditation, contemplation, illumination, and inspiration.” – Benjamin Creme
- “Silence is a source of great strength.” – Lao Tzu
- “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa
- “Silence gives us a new way of looking at something.” – Mother Teresa
- “The good and the wise lead quiet lives.” – Euripides
- “The disciplines of prayer, silence, and contemplation as practiced by the monastics and mystics are precisely that – stopping the noise, slowing down, and becoming still so that God can break through all our activity and noise to speak to us. Prayer serves to put all parts of our lives in God's presence, reminding us how holy our humanity really is.” – Jim Wallis
- “The more you know the less you need to say.” – Jim Rohn
- “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker
- “In the silence behind what can be heard lies the answers we have been searching for for so long.” – Andreas Fransson
- “Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” – William S. Burroughs
- “Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “The word ‘listen' contains the same letters as the word ‘silent.'” – Alfred Brendel
- “Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.” – Charles de Gaulle
- “Silence is sometimes the best answer.” – Dalai Lama
- “Three silences there are: the first of speech, the second of desire, the third of thought.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “The closer you are to the truth, the more silent you become inside.” – Naval Ravikant
- “In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” – Robert Lynd
- “A wise man once said nothing.” – Anonymous
- “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- “I’ve begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.” – Chaim Potok
- “Everything that’s created comes out of silence. Thoughts emerge from the nothingness of silence. Words come out of the void. Your very essence emerged from emptiness. All creativity requires some stillness.” – Wayne Dyer
- “Through the portals of silence, the healing sun of wisdom and peace will shine upon you.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
Final Thoughts on Silence Quotes
Silence is powerful. When we learn to be comfortable in quiet contemplation, letting go of worries and other distractions, the universe opens up a range of opportunities for our self-improvement.
We hope that the quotes featured today inspire you to embrace the habit of quiet contemplation.
If you love any of the artwork featured today, a share through your favorite social media platform is very much appreciated.
And if you want more eye-opening quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 77 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes on Mindfulness (To Live a More Meaningful Life)
- 53 Hope Quotes to Get You Through Challenging Times
- 61 Yoga Quotes to Inspire Your Daily Practice
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
