Silence Is The Best Reply Quotes & Sayings

Just after midnight, I text my parents who live in Florida: Please tell me you didn't help elect him.

No reply.

The next morning, New York City wakes up with a wet, gray yawn. The air is thick with mist. The city moves at a slower, muffled pace. New Yorkers rarely make eye contact; today isn't much different, except when eyes meet, they lock for a moment in shared grief. Everyone's shoulders bend forward, the world weighing heavier on them than it did yesterday.

The sidewalks and the coffee shops are quiet. Even the subway paces through its underground veins in somber silence. My husband tells me: "The city hasn't been this quiet since 9/11."

- Melissa Lirtsman — Erin Passons

She hesitated. "I'm not sure I understand."
"Don't you?" he asked. "You changed my heart, Rachel."
She felt her throat constrict, making any reply impossible.
"Rachel?" Her silence rarely made him uncomfortable, but this time he had no clear view of her features and no way to gauge her reaction. He wondered if he should have made a more straightforward declaration. "Did you hear me say I love you?"
She turned her cheek into his shoulder. "I heard you. — Jo Goodman

Daddy had only just got into bed when, from the next room, a small voice called, "Hello?"
"What do you want?" Daddy demanded, perhaps a trifle less patiently than usual.
There came a long silence. Then from a sleepy child came the reply, "I don't want anything 'cept I just want to know somebody is there."
That is the cry of million of hearts, millions who feel they can manage along through life as long as there is someone to share it with. — Francis Gay

How I wish that all men and women of good will would look to the Cross if only for a moment! There, we can see God's reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken. — Pope Francis

If you had the chance, would you change what you did?"
We haven't rehearsed the answer, and maybe it's the only one that really matters. I turn, so that I am staring square at you; so that you know, all my life, anything I've ever said or buried beneath silence was just for you. "If I had the chance," I reply. "I'd do it all over again. — Jodi Picoult

Surely silence can sometimes be the most eloquent reply. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

To such perseverance in willful self-deception Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, that if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive, and whose behavior at least could not be mistaken for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female. — Jane Austen

Just then Marc rolls on to his side, faces me and his voice breaks the silence.
"How is it that you have never found happiness?"
Feeling him move a stray strand of hair away from my mouth I reply truthfully.
"I thought I had at the time. I married for all of the right reasons and believed in the vows we exchanged. Unfortunately happiness got lost along the way through the actions of others; I also lost trust with it. — A.J. Walters

You selfish bitch!"
She had known for a long time that putting her needs above those of Adam's wife and children was indeed selfish. She had no real answer to the accusation thrown at her.
"I'm sorry" she said, with her head in her hands.
"you're sorry?" came her adversary's disbelieving reply.
"I am. I'm sorry he married you when he was in love with me. I'm sorry I couldn't have loved someone else. I'm sorry your marriage is a joke and I'm sorry that I'm alone. I'm sorry for a lot of things - for you, for your kids, for me and for him. I spend most of my time being sorry."
For a moment there was silence at the end of the line.
"all you had to do was stay away"
"if only I could have." tears escaped and raced down her cheeks.
"I hate you! — Anna McPartlin

It's not until we get into the car that I notice he has blood on his hand. "You've cut yourself," I say. He doesn't reply; his knuckles are white on the steering wheel. "Tom, I needed to talk to you," I say. I'm trying to be conciliatory, trying to be grown-up about this, but I suppose it's a little late for that. "I'm sorry about hassling you, but for God's sake! You just cut me off. You - " "It's OK," he says, his voice soft. "I'm not . . . I'm pissed off about something else. It's not you." He turns his head and tries to smile at me, but fails. "Problems with the ex," he says. "You know how it is." "What happened to your hand?" I ask him. "Problems with the ex," he says again, and there's a nasty edge to his voice. We drive the rest of the way to Corly Wood in silence. — Paula Hawkins

'You are your" "Past, Present," "& Future,' he said" " 'You divide into" "those components" "in this room' " " 'But I do not have" "components!' " "our three voices said," " 'My
secret name - " "Time's secret name" "is Oneness," "is One Thing' " "As I - the one" "in the middle - spoke," "the one of us in front - " "who was the Past - " "had already" "finished speaking" "& was awaiting" "his reply" "He said," " 'Don't we seem" "to experience" "things
somewhat this way?" "There is past, present" :& future' " "The Future then cried out," " 'Where is my life?" 'Where is my life?" "You have stolen" "my life!' " "There was a silence" "The man" "reached out &" "pressed a button" "on the cave wall - " "we three united" "into
one again" "while he wrote words on" "a clipboard" "Then he looked up & said," " 'Going forward?" "Going on?" "Death lies ahead, you know' " "Any woman" "may already" "be dead,' " "I said — Alice Notley

Win took another putt. Another make. "We're not the same, you and I. We both know that. But it's okay." "It's not okay." "Yes, it is. If we were the same it wouldn't work. We'd both be dead by now. Or insane. We balance each other. It's why you're my best friend. It's why I love you." Silence. "Don't do it again," Myron said. Win did not reply. He lined up another putt. "Did you hear me?" "It's time to move on," Win said. "This incident is in the past. You know better than to try to control the future." More silence. Win sank another putt. — Harlan Coben

I regret to say I'm
unable to reply to your unexpressed desires. — Harryette Mullen

I make no other answer than the act,
the Master said: "The only fit reply
to a fit request is silence and the fact." [XXIV] — Dante Alighieri

People? They usually ask only stupid questions, forcing you to reply with equally stupid answers. For instance, they ask you what you do, not what you would have liked to do. They ask you what you own, not what you've lost. They ask about the woman you married, not about the one you love. About your name, but not if it suits you. They ask your age, but not how well you've lived those years. They ask about the city you live in, not about the city that lives in you. And they ask if you pray, not if you fear God.
So I've gotten used to answering these questions with silence. You know, when we shut up, we force others to reconsider their mistakes. — Ahlam Mosteghanemi

Silence is the best reply to a fool. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

It was better to answer, no matter how ineptly, thank to withhold a reply. Because sometimes silence could wound someone nearly as badly as a bullet. — Lisa Kleypas

I shouted into the phone, but there was no reply. Silence floated up from the receiver like smoke from the mouth of a gun. — Haruki Murakami

Come on... come on... I am waiting for answer...
...

Silence doesn't make it... better
...

YOU SAID THAT WE ARE FRIENDS... AND i WAIT HOURS FOR REPLY!? — Deyth Banger

Minerva considered herself a reasonably intelligent person, but good heavens ... handsome men made her stupid. She grew so flustered around them, never knew where to look or what to say. The reply meant to be witty and clever would come out sounding bitter or lame. Sometimes a teasing remark from Lord Payne's quarter quelled her into dumb silence altogether. Only days later, while she was banging away at a cliff face with a rock hammer, would the perfect retort spring to mind. — Tessa Dare

The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply, 'Create silence'. — Soren Kierkegaard

Mr Rycroft said nothing. It was so difficult not to say the wrong thing to Captain Wyatt that it was usually safer not to reply at all. — Agatha Christie

One of the best stories of the early Christian desert hermits goes like this: 'Abbe Lot came to Abbe Joseph and said: Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and according as I am able I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: Now what more should I do? The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: Why not be totally changed into fire? — Annie Dillard

He saw that the Prisoner had listened carefully all the time, looking gently in his face
But evidently he did not want to reply. The old man longed for Him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But he suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on the forehead. — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The postmodern reply to the modern consists of recognizing that the past, since it cannot really be destroyed, because its destruction leads to silence, must be revisited: but with irony, not innocently. I think of the postmodern attitude as that of a man who loves a very cultivated woman and knows he cannot say to her, I love you madly, because he knows that she knows (and that she knows that he knows) that these words have already been written by Barbara Cartland. Still, there is a solution. He can say, As Barbara Cartland would put it, I love you madly. — Umberto Eco

I must be getting back to my rooms," Silence said and stood.
Mick frowned with displeasure. "Why?"
"Because of Mary Darling."
He shrugged. "One o' the maids is watchin' her."
"But if Mary wakes she'll want me."
"Why?" he asked again, biting into a sweetmeat. This discussion wasn't to his fancy, but sparring with her was.
"Because," she said slowly, looking at him as if he were lack-witted, "she's only a baby and she loves me."
"Babies," Mick pronounced, "are a great trouble."
She shook her head, not bothering to reply this time, and started marching to the door. — Elizabeth Hoyt

They passed the rest of the journey in silence, not because of any awkwardness, but because neither wished conversation to break the spell that the unfolding Highland landscape was weaving about them. And what remarks were needed here? If one listens to the talk of people looking at scenes of great natural beauty, their words are often revealing. "Isn't it beautiful?" is what is most frequently said; to which the reply, 'Yes, beautiful," adds little. What is happening, of course, is a sharing. We wish to share beauty as if it were a discovery; but one can share in silence, and perhaps the sharing is all the more powerful for it. — Alexander McCall Smith

There was a beat of silence before Sin said blandly, "I have occasional nightmares about us having a threesome with that meat-head. I'm far from being easily shocked."
"What?" Boyd looked completely taken aback, his eyebrows shooting up. "That's the last thing I thought I'd ever hear from you."
"It isn't exactly a voluntary thing. It's quite horrifying. I usually wake up before he can put his dick in me though." Sin made a revolted expression, his lips twisting in a scowl of disgust.
"So I shouldn't expect to be propositioned for this threesome too in the near future?" Boyd asked jokingly.
Sin stared at Boyd and didn't bother to reply. — Santino Hassell

She wanted to write to him. Tell him she was glad he was back, that he was alive, that he was home and safe. But words to him no longer fit right in her her mouth.Words which belonged in his ownership were no longer hers to give. Silence was the only acceptable state her heart would grant. He would never know what he missed, because she refused to be heard in his presence. All the words he could have had, all the phrases he might have danced with. The smiles which would have been imprinted upon his heart, would never be. And his lips would never be able to reply to the words she could not say. — Coco J. Ginger

Such anger. Do you want to talk about it? Vincent called out. When there was no reply, Vincent picked up the whistling where he'd left off, smiling at the success of wreaking havoc on Darius. Vincent didn't hate Darius, or any other Gwarda for that matter, he simply got pleasure from messing with the race. — Madison Thorne Grey

Whatever the culture, there's a tongue in our head. Some use it, some hold it, some bite it. For the French it is a rapier, thrusting in attack; the English, using it defensively, mumble a vague, confusing reply; for Italians and Spaniards it is an instrument of eloquence; Finns and East Asians throw you with constructive silence. Silence is a form of speech, so don't interrupt it! — Richard D. Lewis

The only fit reply to a fit request is silence and the fact. — Dante Alighieri

Silence is true wisdom's best reply. — Euripides

It was her, Marie Antoinette, scrutinizing me, satanically silent. Some would say that Marie Antoinette could only express her hate in silence because she was a turtle. To these naive souls I would reply that hate, like laughter, makes less noise the deeper it is.
-pg 100 — Albert Sanchez Pinol

Silence is the best reply to those who provoke you. Smile is like icing on the cake. — Saru Singhal

But silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them. — Joseph Addison