“I wrote silences, nights; I noted the inexpressible. I fixed vertigos.”

Original: J’écrivais des silences, des nuits, je notais l’inexprimable. Je fixais des vertiges. — The poet describes an attempt to give lasting form to experiences that ordinarily resist language. · A Season in Hell, Alchemy of the Word, 1873 (French)

• Expression
• Silence
• Writing

“Though I love music I cannot write within earshot of any instrument.”

An intriguing distinction between his love of music and the silence required for writing · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Music
• Silence
• Writing

“Often I go at day-break to stand and see the sun rise out of the mist and water, drinking the silence of the fresh air, the divine earliness of morning.”

Revealing the poet's contemplative delight in silence, landscape and the freshness of dawn · Letter to Laurence Binyon from Calcutta, c. 1897

• Nature
• Silence
• Wonder

“I became a master of silence.”

Original: Je devins un opéra fabuleux: je vis que tous les êtres ont une fatalité de bonheur. — The passage belongs to Rimbaud’s retrospective account of visionary experience and the possibility of universal happiness. · A Season in Hell, Alchemy of the Word, 1873 (French)

• Happiness
• Silence
• Vision

“The quiet of the countryside is not the silence of emptiness, but the profound harmony of living things.”

Capturing the restorative depth found in simple natural surroundings · Journal entries on rural life

• Nature
• Silence
• Tranquillity

“The less one says about a subject which one does not understand, the less one will say about it which is foolish.”

A compact argument for intellectual restraint · Lecture, The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism, 1921

• Silence
• Understanding
• Wisdom

“I keep silent about many things because I do not want to confuse people, and I am content when they rejoice where I am annoyed.”

Original: Ich schweige zu vielem still, denn ich mag die Menschen nicht irremachen und bin wohl zufrieden, wenn sie sich freuen da wo ich mich ärgere. — The remark combines restraint with generosity towards the differing perceptions of others. · Wilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years (German)

• Attitude
• Silence
• Tolerance

“Silence is often the most eloquent response to folly.”

Suggesting restraint and quiet dignity when confronted with foolishness · Prose essay, Of Conversation

• Conversation
• Silence
• Wisdom

“The world demands noise, but truth demands silence.”

Original: Die Welt verlangt Lärm, aber die Wahrheit verlangt Stille. — Contrasts worldly distraction with quiet spiritual focus · Notebook fragment, c. 1913 (German)

• Silence
• Society
• Truth

“I have always been very quiet and bashful and a great mystery in my own place.”

A candid description of the reserve that marked him from childhood · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Character
• Identity
• Silence

“I have often thought that the deepest friendships are those in which silence is as comfortable as speech.”

Valuing companionship that does not depend upon constant conversation. · Letter

• Companionship
• Friendship
• Silence

“Of myself I am a fast writer and very prolific. I have long silences, often for weeks, then the mood comes over me and I must write and write, no matter where I be or what the circumstances are.”

Describes creativity as alternating between silence and irresistible activity · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Creativity
• Silence
• Writing

“Light sufferings spring to the lips in words, and to the eyes in tears; but there is a pride in deep passion which guards its feelings from even the shadow of a surmise.”

Contrasting easily expressed troubles with suffering kept deeply private · Landoniana

• Emotion
• Silence
• Suffering

“Silence is the only thing that does not deceive us.”

Original: Das Schweigen ist das Einzige, was uns nicht täuscht. — Reflects his distrust of words in contrast to absolute silence · Notebook entry, c. 1913 (German)

• Silence
• Trust
• Truth

“Silence is more musical than any song.”

Widely attributed to Rossetti, though a precise primary source is difficult to establish · Prose remark, commonly attributed

• Beauty
• Music
• Silence

“I am certain that the greatest, sweetest, and the purest poets upon earth are silent people — silent as the flowers.”

Honours those who see beauty without needing to publish it · Conversation at a Rossetti dinner, later recalled in print

• Beauty
• Poetry
• Silence

“The true genius shudders at incompleteness, and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.”

Valuing artistic completeness and disciplined restraint · Marginalia

• Art
• Silence
• Truth

“Silence is the language of all strong passions: love, even in its tender moments, anger, wonder, fear, and so on.”

Original: Il silenzio è il linguaggio di tutte le forti passioni, dell’amore (anche nei momenti dolci), dell’ira, della maraviglia, del timore ec. — Leopardi suggests that the strongest emotions can overwhelm language rather than find fulfilment in it. · Zibaldone, entry 142, 27 June 1820 (Italian)

• Emotion
• Language
• Silence

“The quietest moments often contain the loudest truths.”

Noting how stillness brings clarity and inner realization · Personal Correspondence

• Reflection
• Silence
• Truth