The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them — those are you, those are why you are in the world.
Interpretation
Value lies in unspoken truths and inner knowledge.
This quote emphasizes that true richness comes from the unexpressed thoughts and experiences we hold within ourselves. When we speak unnecessarily or listen to redundant information, we diminish the depth of our communication and understanding, suggesting that our authentic selves and reasons for being lie in the knowledge we carry silently.
In practice
In a workshop about communication skills, this quote could be shared to illustrate the importance of listening and the power of silence.
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king.
A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
So, the world happens twice--_x000D_ once what we see it as;_x000D_ second it legends itself_x000D_ deep, the way it is.
The earth says have a place, be what that place_x000D_ requires; hear the sound the birds imply_x000D_ and see as deep as ridges go behind_x000D_ each other.
Shallow brooks murmur most, deep and silent slide away.
Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion.
Nourish your hopes, but do not overlook realities.
It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at a perpetual funeral.
I'm 57, I can't look like a 30-year-old. You try to hold age at bay, but there comes a point when you just have to give up gracefully.
O unfathomable depth! O Deity eternal! O deep ocean! What more could You give me than to give me Yourself?
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