A friend of mine took a Zen Buddhist monk to hear the Boston Symphony perform Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. His comment was, 'Not enough silence!'

Nothing in all creation is so like God as silence.

I like the silent church before the service begins better than any preaching.

Silence is exhilarating at first - as noise is - but there is a sweetness to silence outlasting exhilaration, akin to the sweetness of listening and the velvet of sleep.

There are very few people who do not become more interesting when they Stop talking.

My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music and silence.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

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

Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence.

Born in elevators and supermarkets, Muzak has spread to restaurants, hotels, airplanes, telephone hold services, and waiting rooms. The public-relations experts believe that human beings fear silence - that is, the absence of constantly imposed direction. It is further believed that if we can be relieved of our fears, we will gain enough self-confidence to buy, eat, vote, fly, or simply go on living.