Mark Helprin Quotes

Silence can be a very powerful tool. Sometimes it's more powerful to leave you with nothing.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing; a weak defense strengthens your opponent, and silence is less injurious than a bad reply.

He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak.

If we were meant to talk more than listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.

Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.

There is a time to speak and a time to listen, and sometimes people need to shut up.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

I feel that if a person has problems communicating the very least he can do is to shut up.

The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.

Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.

He who seldom speaks, and with one calm well-timed word can strike dumb the loquacious, is a genius or a hero.

I can read people, and if the other person doesn't want to say anything, I'm fine with that. People say things when it's time to say them.

There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk.

Never rise to speak till you have something to say; and when you have said it, cease.

A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.

Listening speaks louder than words.

Even the wordiest of men know there's a time to button it.

People love to talk but hate to listen.

Everyone breathes in air, but it's a wise person who knows when to use that air to speak and when to exhale in silence.

Sometimes you have to be silent to be heard.

The sheer act of listening speaks volumes that even a great speech can't communicate.

Not every one who has the gift of speech understands the value of silence.

Were we as eloquent as angels we still would please people much more by listening rather than talking.

Silence is one of the hardest kind of arguments to refute. There is no good substitute for wisdom; but silence is the best that has yet been discovered.

Silence is one great art of conversation.