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There was a silence. Outside, and most unfortunately, a boy could be heard calling to another boy: ‘Piss off, Cowie.’ Stern looks were fixed on Woolton.

— Anthony Burgess The Worm and the Ring (1960)

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Silence

More quotes by Anthony Burgess

If Shakespeare required a word and had not met it in civilised discourse, he unhesitatingly made it up.

A Mouthful of Air: Language and Languages, Especially English (1992)

Few men can do more than touch the fringes of a woman's satisfaction.

The Kingdom of the Wicked (1985)

She sat shortly after, rosy-footed, in a pair of my black Charvet pajamas, sipping warm milk.

Earthly Powers (1980)

Celibacy is not merely unknown to Islam, it is unintelligible.

The Enemy in the Blanket (1958)

To impose good , whether through force or through some technique like aversion therapy, is evil. To act evilly is better than to have good imposed.

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