Noise, n: A stench in the ear ... the chief product and authenticating sound of civilization.

I have often lamented that we cannot close our ears with as much ease as we can our eyes.

Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation.

When asked what he thought the future would be like he said, The same, but louder.'

If we don't sit down and shut up once in a while we'll lose our minds even earlier than we had expected. Noise is an imposition on sanity, and we live in very noisy times.

The air is in fact filled with so much noise that one must usually talk in a very loud voice to be understood, thereby increasing the total uproar. Lovers sometimes have to whisper "I love you" to each other in the tones of newsboys selling the afternoon paper.

Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption.

Nowadays, most men lead lives of noisy desperation.

Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but a disruption of thought. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful.

Noise pollution is a relative thing. In a city, it's a jet plane taking off. In a monastery, it's a pen that scratches.