There are "ordinary silences" and Silence. We can remain quiet and yet chattering inside. That is not Silence. We can be in an empty, quiet room, and yet full of mental noise. That is not Silence. We can decide not to speak in a particular situation and yet be swearing aloud. And one can be listening, reading, playing an instrument or singing, and yet be feeling the Quietness in which everything becomes possible. How are we going to listen to the divine whispers if we live as noisy savages?
Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation –Rumi
To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking. Prayer involves becoming silent, and being silent, and waiting until God is heard –Søren Kierkegaard
My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him –Salm 62:5
She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not
–Genesis 24:18-2
Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up."It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; A form was before my eyes; There was silence, then I heard a voice: 'Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?…
–Job 4:15-17
Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Silence is the true friend that never betrays
–Confucius
A man is master of his silences and a slave of his words –Old Proverb
Silence does not always mark wisdom
–Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything –John Grossman
When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside –Rumi
