A man who silently lives by his ethics makes a more profound argument than one who deafens us with his shouting about them. Gerry Spence

• morals
• silence

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. Plato

• speech
• words
• silence

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. Martin Tupper

• speech
• silence

I have never been hurt by anything I didn't say. Calvin Coolidge

• speech
• silence

Never miss a chance to keep your mouth shut. Robert Peck

• talk
• silence

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• silence

When there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent. George Washington

• silence

Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. Benjamin Franklin

• conversation
• speech
• silence

This is the context.

Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi

• speech
• lies
• silence

As we must account for every idle word, so we must for every idle silence. Benjamin Franklin

• silence
• apathy

Give every man thy ear but few thy voice. William Shakespeare

• silence
• listening

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. Mark Twain

• speech
• silence

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. Abraham Lincoln

• silence

One way to save face is to keep the lower part of it shut. Lou Holtz

• silence

Speak only if it improves upon the silence. Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi

• speech
• talk
• silence

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. George Eliot

• speech
• oratory
• silence