“We just sat there on the sofa and looked at each other, a kind of unspoken mutual understanding filling the silence.”

“Women's mutual understanding comes from the fact that they identify themselves with each other; but for the same reason each is against the others.”

“The two men sat there together, in the kind of silence that's not empty because it has the thoughts of two longtime friends to fill it.”

“Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life. Silence is a place of great power and healing.”

“Some hearts understand each other, even in silence.”

“Silence is the demon's trap, and the more one is silenced, the more terrible the demon; but silence is also the divinity's mutual understanding with the single individual.”