True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.

— William Penn

Silence is the true friend that never betrays.

— Confucius

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation… tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a grey vegetation.

— Jean Arp

Everybody should have his personal sounds to listen for — sounds that will make him exhilarated and alive or quite and calm… One of the greatest sounds of them all — and to me it is a sound — is utter, complete silence.

— Andre Kostelanetz

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after truth.

— Mahatma Gandhi

Compiled by O’Neil Grant