James Carroll Quotes

Take time to be quiet.

Stop, stop. Do not speak. The ultimate truth is not even to think.

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.

Just by being aware, thoughts start disappearing. There is no need to fight. Your awareness is enough to destroy them. And when the mind is empty, the temple is ready. And inside the temple the only god worth placing is silence. So those three words you have to remember: relaxation, thoughtlessness, silence. And if these three words are no more words to you but become experiences, your life will be transformed.

The heart beats louder and the soul hears quicker in silence and solitude.

But now I have learned to listen to silence. To hear its choirs singing the song of ages, chanting the hymns of space, and disclosing the secrets of eternity.

This benefit of seeing...can come only if you pause a while, extricate yourself from the maddening mob of quick impressions ceaselessly battering our lives, and look thoughtfully at a quiet image...the viewer must be willing to pause, to look again, to meditate.

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

I love silence.

Silence is refreshment for the soul.

Silence is the most powerful state.

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

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

Real action is in silent moments.

Seek out a tree and let it teach you stillness.

The master action, to move forward is a form of inaction; being still and quiet.

The beginning of prayer is silence.

Let us leave a little room for reflection in our lives, room too for silence. Let us look within ourselves and see whether there is some delightful hidden place inside where we can be free of noise and argument. Let us hear the Word of God in stillness and perhaps we will then come to understand it.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

The teaching arises out of the stillness. But when I'm alone, there's only the stillness, and that is my favorite place.

It isn't necessary that you leave home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don't even listen, just wait. Don't wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you.

Thought will not work except in silence.

Now it is time to sit quiet, face to face with thee, and to sing dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.

We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken us a lifetime to learn...for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together...this is the great paradox.

The great silent man! Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world,--words with little meaning, actions with little worth,--one loves to reflect on the great Empire of Silence.