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The silence of the graves is more intense, but you can't switch on the light...Your eyes will get used to the dark.

— Naguib Mahfouz The Thief and the Dogs (1961)

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Silence

More quotes by Naguib Mahfouz

He and Raifa each lived in hell, in a world of tedium.

The Harafish (1977)

According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.

Naguib Mahfouz in: Gary Dexter (2010)

Why do people laugh, dance in triumph, feel recklessly secure in positions of power? Why do they not remember the true place in the scheme of things and their inevitable end?

The Harafish (1977)

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.

Michael J. Gelb (1996)

It is something worth picking from the thrash-can the alluring experience of the working days.

All Naguib Mahfouz quotes →

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To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox New Thought Pastels (1913)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

George Eliot

There are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.

Benedict of Nursia

I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?

Federico Fellini I'm a Born Liar (2003)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Naguib Mahfouz (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.