A Collection of Quotes About Silence, Stillness, and Slowing Down

Very few people these days possess the tranquility which enables a person to make genuine choices, and to withdraw into states of reflection. Almost everyone is beside himself, agitated, and with agitation man loses his most essential attribute – the possibility to contemplate, to retreat into himself so that he comes to terms with himself and defines what he believes, what he truly values, and what he truly detests. This agitation dazzles him, blinds him, and compels him to act mechanically, like a frenetic sleepwalker. —Jose Ortega y Gasset

These times are urgent. So let us slow down. —Bayo Akomolafe

There are moments when you think you’re silent and all around is silent, but talking is going on all the time inside your head. That’s not silence. The practice is how to find silence in all the activities you do. —Thich Nhat Hanh

Without great solitude, no serious work is possible. —Pablo Picasso

The Buddha found what he had to see by sitting still, but even he had to travel to get to that point, to see through the other roads that would lead nowhere and come finally to the understanding that the truth we’re looking for is no further than the hair on our arms. —Pico Iyer

Silence can be an emptiness that is, paradoxically, full. You do not occupy this silence; it occupies you. —Mark C. Taylor

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts; And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime. And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered. For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly. —Kahlil Gibran

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering. —A.A. Milne

There's a great space in which this moment takes place. There's a great silence that is listening to the thoughts. —Adyashanti

Stillness in the midst of motion and commotion is free of will, direction, and time. It is a complete letting be of what is from moment to moment. —Toni Packer

In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. —Pico Iyer

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. —Lao Tzu

At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening. —Annie Dillard

Imagine trusting silence more than any thought you can come up with. —Adyashanti

I'd like to quit thinking of the present as some minor insignificant preamble to something else. —Richard Linklater

Silence is a source of great strength. —Lao Tzu

Silence is medication for sorrow. —Arab Proverb