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God is the silence of the universe, and man is the cry that gives meaning to that silence.

— José Saramago

Deus é o silêncio do universo, e o homem o grito que dá um sentido a esse silêncio.

Original text (Portuguese)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Lanzarote Notebooks (1990), quoted in The Notebook, entry for 9 October 2008.

Topics

Silence

More quotes by José Saramago

The difficult thing isn't living with other people, it's understanding them.

Blindness (1995)

If I'm sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow?

Blindness (1995)

Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts.

The Cave (2000)

Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.

Blindness (1995)

At this time of life even a day makes a difference, the only saving grace is that sometimes things improve.

The Cave (2000)

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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: José Saramago (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.