Silently…

My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence. 
(Edith Sitwell: 1887 – 1964)

Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. (Peter Minard)

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. 
(Martin Luther King Jr.: 1929 – 1968)

If you try to solve a dispute by discussion, it is noise that will win.

It is futile to speak with people who believe that a change of mind is a sign of weakness.

It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.
(Seneca: 5 BC – 65 AD)

EARTH IS LIKE A VESSEL
Laozi (6th c. BCE, Tao Te Ching)

Those who would take over the Earth
And shape it to their will
Never, I notice, succeed.

For the Earth is like a vessel so sacred
That at the merest touch of the profane—
It is marred,
And when they reach out their hands to grasp it—
It is gone.

For a time some force themselves ahead
And some are left behind,
For a time some make a great noise
And some are held silent,
For a time some are puffed fat
And some are kept hungry,
For a time some are held up
And some are destroyed.

But at no time will a man who is sane:
Over-reach himself,
Over-spend himself,
Over-rate himself.

Susan Cain. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.
Crown, 2012.
George Prochnik. In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise.
Doubleday, 2010.

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Douglas Wood. A Quiet Place. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002.

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M.T. Anderson. Me, All Alone, at the End of the World. Candlewick Press, 2005.

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Kevin Henkes. All Alone. Greenwillow Books, 1981.

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