Jacques Barzun Quotes

GRINNING, DUCKING MY HEAD FOR BALANCE, I START TO SPIN WILDLY AS I CAN. THAT IS MY FAVORITE DANCE, BECAUSE IT CONTAINS A SECRET. THE FASTER I TWIRL, THE MORE I AM STILL INSIDE. MY DANCE IS ALL MOTION WITHOUT, ALL SILENCE WITHIN. AS MUCH AS I LOVE TO MAKE MUSIC, IT'S THE UNHEARD MUSIC THAT NEVER DIES. AND SILENCE IS MY REAL DANCE, THOUGH IT NEVER MOVES. IT STANDS ASIDE, MY CHOREOGRAPHER OF GRACE, AND BLESSES EACH FINGER AND TOE.

Listening to the eternal involves a silence within us.

I have a real problem with stillness. With just stopping and being quiet.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

While doing centering prayer, the practice is to let go of any thought or perception. The priority is to be as silent as possible and when that is not possible to let the noise of the thoughts be the sacred symbol for a while, without analyzing them.

There is a lot of silence in me, and I feel that silence is often better than spoken words.

In the Sanghi family, there is no one who has undertaken intellectual pursuits.

Silence is the pause in me when I am near to God.

Listen to the sound of silence.

All of our great traditions, religious, contemplative and artistic, say that you must a learn how to be alone - and have a relationship with silence. It is difficult, but it can start with just the tiniest quiet moment.

Spend as much time as you can in silence. Look at the way the sun paints the ground gold.

There is so much noise in the world! May we learn to be silent in our hearts and before God.

The word must be heard in silence; there must be darkness to see the stars.

As before, there is a great silence, with no end in sight. The writer surrenders, listening.

Let silence take you to the core of life.

Real action is in silent moments.

There are times when we stop, we sit still. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.

But there is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question.

I named this place Listening Point because only when one comes to listen, only when one is aware and still, can things be seen and heard. Everyone has a listening point somewhere. It does not have to be in the north or close to the wilderness, but someplace of quiet where the universe can be contemplated with awe.

Only the refined and delicate pleasures that spring from research and education can build up barriers between different ranks.

We just sat there quiet for a long time, which was fine, and I was thinking about way back in the very beginning in the Literal Heart of Jesus.

The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence.

We switch to another language-- not our invented language or the language we've learned from our lives. As we walk further up the mountain, we speak the language of silence. This language gives us time to think and move. We can be here and elsewhere at the same time.

Take time to be quiet.

The beginning of prayer is silence.