I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.

An absolute silence leads to sadness: it is the image of death.

What, O wise man, is the tongue in the mouth? It is a key to the casket of the intellectual treasurer; so long as the lid remains shut how can any person say whether he be a dealer in gems or in pedlery?

I do know of these That therefore only are reputed wise For saying nothing.

The silence often of pure innocence Persuades when speaking fails.

The uncomfortable truth seems to be that the amount of talk by women has been measured less against the amount of men's talk than against the expectation of female silence.

Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

The philosophers are wrong: it is not words that kill, it is silence.