The captive word
Dec 18, 2007 Faith and Works, Homo sapiens, O Mores!
Not everything that is thought should be said, not everything that is said should be written, and not everything that is written should be published.
This is credited to Rabbi Israel Salanter.
The blog, the BlackBerry, the email are all vacuums, begging for content. Yet so often there is far more utility in shutting up; perhaps this is why Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel says in the Mishna, “All my days I grew up among sages, and I have found nothing greater for a person than silence” (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:17).
Is there a greater test, especially in our time, for the verbally facile, the spiritually agitated, the spirit seeking connection?
UPDATE: Turns out I used a version of that quote before.
December 30th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” Ansel Adams
December 30th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
“The temple of our purest thoughts is silence.” Sarah J. Hale
December 30th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Ah, shut up already!
January 6th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
“True eloquence consists of saying all that should be said, and that only.” François La Rochefoucauld
September 28th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
[...] am grateful for the things that ought not be written, but should be [...]
November 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
[...] upload is the result of a conscious choice we make about what we want the world to think about us. Not everything that is thought deserves to be written, and then some, as we have said before. Who knows what verdicts lurk in the hearts of men? Just ask [...]
November 27th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
[...] am grateful for the things that ought not be written, but should be [...]
January 4th, 2009 at 12:15 am
[...] a quote from Rabbi Israel Salanter that I used (having forgotten about it) about a week ago in this post; when I published the piece below, I had been unable to find its [...]