Saying Nothing Quotes - Page 2

• It is in this power of saying everything, and yet saying nothing too plainly, that the perfection of art consists.

  John Ruskin

  Art, Perfection

  John Ruskin (1862). “pt. I. Of genral principles. pt. II. Of truth. v. 4. pt. v. Of mountain beauty”, p.352

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• As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Talking, Mind, Few Words

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• We went to America a few times and [Brian] Epstein always tried to waffle on at us about saying nothing about Vietnam. So there came a time when George [Harrison] and I said 'Listen, when they ask next time, we're going to say we don't like that war and we think they should get right out.' That's what we did.

  John Lennon

  War, Thinking, America

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• I don't know what to say to her. All I know is, I ain't saying it. And I know she ain't saying what she want a say either and it's a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation

  Kathryn Stockett

  Want, Causes, Strange

  "The Help". Book by Kathryn Stockett, July 23, 2009.

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• The spoken word converts individual knowledge into mutual knowledge, and there is no way back once you've gone over that cliff. Saying nothing was more amendable, and over time I'd come to see that it was usually your best course of action.

  Karen Joy Fowler

  Gone, Way, Cliffs

  Karen Joy Fowler (2014). “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves”, p.126, Serpent's Tail

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• there is no greater fraud or bore than the writer who has acquired the art of saying nothing brilliantly.

  Gertrude Atherton

  Art, Fraud, Bores

  Gertrude Atherton (1908). “The Californians”, p.233, Library of Alexandria

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• It was his subconscious which told him this - that infuriating part of a person's brain which never responds to interrogation, merely gives little meaningful nudges and then sits humming quietly to itself, saying nothing.

  Douglas Adams

  Meaningful, Giving, Brain

  "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul". Book by Douglas Adams, 1988.

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• People have nothing to say, but they are afraid of saying nothing, so what they do say comes out flat and vapid and meaningless. The shadow of death is on every face.

  William S. Burroughs

  Shadow Of Death, People, Faces

  William S. Burroughs (1988). “The Western Lands”, Penguin Group USA

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• There is little much beyond the grave, but the strong are saying nothing until they see.

  Robert Frost

  Strong, Littles, Graves

  Robert Frost (1936). “A Further Range”

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• The best things said come last. People will talk for hours saying nothing much and then linger at the door with words that come with a rush from the heart.

  Alan Alda

  Goodbye, Farewell, Heart

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• Even with the recent story about the nurse killing herself in King Edward Hospital, there's no blame placed on Kate Middleton, who was in the hospital as far as I could see for absolutely no reason. She feels no shame about the death of this woman, she's saying nothing about the death of this poor woman. The arrogance of the British royals is staggering, absolutely staggering. And why it's allowed to be I really don't know... It wasn't because of two DJs in Australia that this woman took her own life, it was the pressure around her.

  Steven Morrissey

  Kings, Australia, Two

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• Oh, Jeeves,' I said; 'about that check suit.' Yes, sir?' Is it really a frost?' A trifle too bizarre, sir, in my opinion.' But lots of fellows have asked me who my tailor is.' Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.' He's supposed to be one of the best men in London.' I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.

  P. G. Wodehouse

  Character, Men, Order

  P. G. Wodehouse (2004). “Introducing Jeeves: Six Classic Stories”, p.65, Courier Corporation

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• How big are souls anyway?" asked Coraline. The other mother sat down at the kitchen table and leaned against the back wall, saying nothing. She picked at her teeth with a long crimson-varnished fingernail, then she tapped the finger, gently, tap-tap-tap against the polished black surface of her black button eyes.

  Neil Gaiman

  Mother, Wall, Eye

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• I stood checked for a moment - awe, not fear, fell upon me - and whist I stood, a solemn wind began to blow, the most mournful that ever ear heard. Mournful! That is saying nothing. It was a wind that had swept the fields of mortality for a hundred centuries.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Blow, Wind, Ears

  Thomas De Quincey (1852). “Confessions of an English Opium-eater: And Suspiria de Profundis”, p.175

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• our nerve filaments twitch with its presence
  day and night,
  nothing we say has not the husky phlegm of it in the saying,
  nothing we do has the quickness, the sureness,
  the deep intelligence living at peace would have.

  Denise Levertov

  War, Night, Nerves

  Denise Levertov, Peggy Rosenthal (2006). “Making Peace”, p.4, New Directions Publishing

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• Doesn't it seem ironic that people fear that we might become alienated by communicating with each other through computers, when we are already staring at these boxes in our living rooms for seven or eight hours a day, slack-jawed and saying nothing to anyone on either side and not talking back to it.

  Howard Rheingold

  Eight, Talking, People

  Source: scottlondon.com

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• And the inner dynamics of Hollywood are like politics. Say you give a script to a group of executives - they all sit around, afraid to voice an opinion, saying nothing, waiting to know what the consensus is. Just like focus groups, opinion polls or a cabinet.

  Joe Eszterhas

  Voice, Giving, Waiting

  "The Hollywood hitman". Interview with Ed Vulliamy, www.theguardian.com. August 19, 2000.

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• you know a person is having a severe personality crisis if you see a high school class ring on a finger beyond the first semester in college. Male or female. It's a big sign saying nothing has mattered to my life since senior year.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Senior, School, College

  Nikki Giovanni (1988). “Sacred cows-- and other edibles”, William Morrow & Co

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• So the HP guy comes up to me (at the Melbourne conference) and he says, 'If you say nasty things like that to vendors you're not going to get anything'. I said, 'No, in eight years of saying nothing, we've got nothing, and I'm going to start saying nasty things, in the hope that some of these vendors will start giving me money so I'll shut up'.

  Theo de Raadt

  Eight, Years, Giving

  "Staying on the Cutting Edge". Interview with Sam Varghese, www.theage.com.au. October 08, 2004.

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• An author frequently chooses solemn or overwhelming subjects to write about; he is so impressed at writing about Life and Death that he does not notice that he is saying nothing of the slightest importance about either.

  Randall Jarrell

  Writing, Life And Death, Doe

  "Ten Books", The Southern Review (p. 9), 1935.

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• Those, who are strongly wedded to what I shall call 'the classical theory', will fluctuate, I expect, between a belief that I am quite wrong and a belief that I am saying nothing new. It is for others to determine if either of these or the third alternative is right.

  John Maynard Keynes

  Learning, Power, History

  John Maynard Keynes (2006). “General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money”, p.5, Atlantic Publishers & Dist

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• You kind of half-prepare a speech in your head, and then you get up there and then you end up saying nothing that was in your head before you went up there. It's a very weird thing. I never do award speeches too well.

  Ed Sheeran

  Awards, Half, Speech

  Source: in.askmen.com

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• My favorite scene on the show [The Office] is on the booze cruise when I finally get to talk to her and tell her, and I react exactly how I would react by saying nothing.

  John Krasinski

  Office, My Favorite, Scene

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• Paris, hours in the café, a certain spirit of rebellion, one side a bit too stubborn, the sea, the true, in Bretagne, the walking in Provence, the taste, the passion for literature, the libraries, the beautiful editions, remaking the world in a set of hours around a table and a bottle of wine. Talking without really saying nothing, just for the pleasure of talking. The museums, the theatres, the elegance, the delicacy, the heritage of the Illustration, a humanistic philosophy. The balance we got between a nordic rigor and a latin savoir-vivre, the insolence and the freedom.

  Clemence Poesy

  Beautiful, Latin, Philosophy

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• I don't think something is a failure if you put your all into it. I'm a big fan of the saying, "Nothing beats a failure but a try."

  Regina King

  Thinking, Trying, Fans

  "Actor Regina King: Divorce as a journey, staying a family and mind over matter". Interview with Robert Piper, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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