Category: SILENCE

  • But Cecilia had no imagination and never said a word more than was necessary. After a long silence, she concluded: “Till tomorrow, then; good-bye.”

    Boredom
    Alberto Moravia

  • “The thought that is contained within your mind is under your control. If you spread it, it becomes under people’s control; it has gone out of your domain to a wider domain in which it and you will be judged”

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III

  • Avoid not only impure deeds, but even words, so that you may be a pure and undefiled man not only in your deeds, but also in your words.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse

  • Among the items that waste time are friendships and spending too much time in speaking about what is beneficial and non-beneficial (more so in what is non-beneficial). It is rare for two people to sit together and build each other speak of what is mutually beneficial.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us

  • Our lives have to be displayed in secret before God, even our sorrows have to be confidential before God.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us

  • Do not scrutinize every word of allow it to cause problems for you; take things lightly. 

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us

  • We learn from this person’s silence.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us

  • Know that every loquacious man is inwardly empty.

    —St. Isaac the Syrian

    (via Monastic Treasures for All of Us by H.H. Pope Shenouda III)

  • For myself, I am working to make voluntary what will eventually happen anyway. Learning to bear my own company and seeking to bear the company of God are proper to this time. I am noticing some changes. For example, I can barely stand to have the radio or music playing in the car when I’m driving – they’re distractions. I’d rather pray. Nevertheless, the noise of my ADD-addled brain provides ample distraction by itself most of the time. What to do with that noise is a matter of constant learning.

    Slowing Down for the Necessary Thing
    ARCHPRIEST STEPHEN FREEMAN

  • I decided to fast from music on those four car rides, expecting that the silence would remind me to pray. So on that pleasant sunny day, I set out on my first expedition with the car windows open. I noticed something surprising right away: my muffler was beginning to go out! I hadn’t noticed it earlier because of the music I always play. I wondered what else I might be missing in my life because I do so many things the same way, day after day.

    Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites
    Lynne M. Baab