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Silence is the sovereign contempt.

— Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

Le silence seul est le souverain mépris.

Original text (French)

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Silence

More quotes by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

To lend freshness to things known, to spread knowledge of things new; an excellent program for a critic.

Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young.

Portraits littéraires (1862)

Let us beware of irony when making judgements. Of all the dispositions of the mind, irony is the least intelligent.

Despair itself if it goes on long enough, can become a kind of sanctuary in which one settles down and feels at ease.

Vie de Joseph Delorme (1829)

Since it is necessary to have enemies, let us endeavour to have those who do us honour.

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