“But what makes a dead person different from someone who becomes serious, turns away from the passing scene, and goes into seclusion to quietly consider the answer to something that has tormented him for a long time? In the midst of people, you can’t even remember the Lord’s Prayer, much less a certain ominous subject [...]
“But he who has a pact with aloneness can even now prepare the way for all this that in the future may well be possible for many, and can build with hands less apt to err. Therefore, dear friend, embrace your solitude and love it. Endure the pain it causes, and try to sing out [...]
“Our wish to flee from the noise of the world may be a disguised wish to flee from the noise of our own internal monologues.”
“Silence, we come to understand is not a denial of life, love or community, but teaches us to celebrate the beauty of each moment.”
“Nature speaks and experience translates: all adults have to do is shut up.”
“It is perhaps the great discomfort of those trying to silence the world to discover that we have voices sealed inside our heads, voices that with each passing day, grow even louder than the clamor of the world outside.”
“‘Never kill a man who says nothing. Those men of Abame were fools. What did they know about the man?’ He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point. ‘Mother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food. She went and brought back a duckling. “You have done very well,” said [...]