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Silence, like all good things, was at its best and costliest when absolutely pure, and it never paid to skimp on it.

— John Barnes The Lost Princess Man (2009)

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Silence

More quotes by John Barnes

Papa always says there’s room for everyone, but some people certainly take theirs up without making it interesting.

Orbital Resonance (1991)

The only thing Carla has ever learned to like about dealing with power is how easy it is to embarrass people who have it.

Mother of Storms (1994)

I burst into tears. It’s the best defense ever found against well-meaning people who are telling you something stupid “for your own good.”

Orbital Resonance (1991)

How he must have been astonished to see people behaving decently when what they believed was absolute anathema to him.

A Million Open Doors (1992)

Too bad about all those people, but as Hassan says, compassion speaks well of its holder but does little for its recipient.

Mother of Storms (1994)

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