19 Quotes About Solitude & Silence
The hermits and the poets agree: you cannot hear yourself over the noise. These quotes are about the company of one, and the silence that has things to say.
“Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win.”
“The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.”
“Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. For the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.”
“Abandoning all duties, take refuge in me alone. I will liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve.”
“The Gita is the philosophy of the householder, the world-engaged person — not the renunciate alone.”
“Silence is the true upadesha. It is the perfect upadesha.”
“In the old way, when one person in the family fell ill, the whole family came together to clean — because illness was understood to live in the broken relationships, not in the body alone.”
“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”
“Conceal your heart, control your mouth. Then your counsels will be among the magistrates. The truly silent man stands in the truth of his own measure.”
“Anubis weighs the heart. Thoth records the result. Ammit waits. The deceased recites the 42 Confessions. The room is silent. The feather does not move. It is the heart that must change.”
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Silence is also an answer.”
“You will never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.”
“Hiljaisuus on kullaa. Silence is gold.”
“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
“To say nothing is also a position, but in Ubuntu thought, silence is collusion.”
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
“An old silent pond. A frog jumps in — the sound of water.”
“It is the imperfect, the irregular, the momentary, that holds the deepest beauty — for it alone reminds us we are alive and passing.”