• “The problem is no longer getting people to express themselves, but providing little gaps of solitude and silence in which they might eventually find something to say… What a relief to have nothing to say, the right to say nothing, because only then is there a chance of framing…the thing that might be worth saying.”

    —Gilles Deleuze

  • “Even if you don’t say anything, if you listen carefully, people will consider you a great conversationalist.”

    ― Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier

  • 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

  • The spiritual person is socially successful, loved by all, at the same time, he uses a correct spiritual and faultless way.

    It is easy for a spiritual person to train himself to be silent so that he would not err by the tongue… Stronger than him is the spiritual person who talks, not only without fault, but in a positive way to benefit others. He is a tactful speaker whose talk people enjoy…

    It is quite easy for a spiritual person to abstain from joking and become always serious. Few will be able to harmonise with his continual seriousness. They will be pleased to see a spiritual person who is at the same time cheerful and happy, laughs with them without any fault on his side or theirs.

    Spirituality does not mean being grave, it turns people off…

    Spirituality has nothing to do with isolation from society and its faults. Otherwise, religion would not be good for society…

    To become adapted to society is a side of spirituality. It is a higher level than the social. It is not wise for some to put it on a lower level, or else that could be one way of self-centeredness…

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, WORDS OF SPIRITUAL BENEFIT VOL. II

  • 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