“Quiet is the first step in our sanctification, the tongue purified from the gossip of the world; the eyes unexcited by fair color or comely shape; the ear not relaxing the tone of the mind by voluptuous songs, nor by that special mischief, the talk of comedians and clowns.” St. Basil the Great (4th century, Doctor of the Church)

“For a church is not a barber’s shop or a chemist’s or a market stall: it is the dwelling of angels and of archangels; it is the kingdom of God; it is heaven itself. If someone gave you entrance into heaven, you would not dare to speak a word, not even if you should see your own brother or father. Likewise in the church, only spiritual things may be spoken, for this is heaven.” St. John Chrysostom (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“The lover of silence draws close to God. He talks to Him in secret and God enlightens him. Jesus, by His silence, shamed Pilate; and a man, by his silence conquers vainglory.” St. John Climacus (6th-7th centuries)

“Therefore holy water is used on entering a church. A man makes the sign of the Cross on his forehead to seal up his mind and heart and mouth, lest he should think or speak of any worldly thing.” St. Vincent Ferrer (14th-15th centuries)

“You who have learned to commune with God and converse in heaven with saints and angels will find silence sweet.” St. John de Brebeuf (16th-17th centuries)

“Withdraw often into the depths of your being, and there with living faith rest on the breast of God, like a child, in the sacred silence of faith and holy love.” St. Paul of the Cross (17th-18th centuries)

“In silence, one awakens from his sleep; all souls are sleepwalkers, their eyes shut against the noble lives they ought to lead. As a sleepwalker will not awaken to every sound but will often respond when his name is called, so the soul in silence hears the Divine vocation and awakens: for the Shepherd calls His sheep by name.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

“Silence is the doorkeeper of the interior life.” St. Josemaria Escriva (20th century)

“Listen in silence, because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God.” St. Teresa of Calcutta (20th century)

“Worldly people are frightened by silence because they feel empty when alone. On the other hand, those who live an interior life value silence because in it they discover a new and more beautiful world: a life of intimacy with the Trinity, a life which this world cannot give.” Ven. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (20th-21st centuries)

“For a stalk to grow or a flower to open there must be time that cannot be forced; nine months must go by for the birth of a human child; to write a book or compose music often years must be dedicated to patient research. To find the mystery there must be patience, interior purification, silence, waiting.” Pope St. John Paul II (20th-21st Centuries)