silence is golden

English

Calque of Latin silentium est aurum (“silence is golden”).

Peace and quiet have great value.
- 1877, Charles Reade, The Woman Hater, ch. 21:
  "I adore good music, I hate bad, and I despise mediocre. Silence is golden, indeed, compared with poor music."
Often the best choice is to say nothing.
- 1897, Horatio Alger, Walter Sherwood's Probation, ch. 2:
  But I have spoken long enough. There are times when silence is golden, and one of those times is at hand.

proverb

Arabic: اَلسُّكُوتُ مِن ذَهَبٍ‎ (as-sukūtu min ḏahabin)
Bulgarian: мълчанието е злато (mǎlčánieto e zláto)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 沉默是金 (zh) (chénmò shì jīn)
Czech: mlčeti zlato
Danish: tale er sølv, tavshed er guld
Esperanto: parolo estas arĝento, oron similas silento
Finnish: vaikeneminen on kultaa
French: le silence est d'or, la parole est d'argent, mais le silence est d'or, la parole est d'argent, le silence est d'or (fr)
German: Schweigen ist Gold, Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold (de)
Greek: η σιωπή είναι χρυσός (i siopí eínai chrysós)
Hebrew: שְׁתִיקָה שָׁוָה זָהָב‎ (he) (shtiqà shavà zahàv)
Hungarian: hallgatni arany (hu)
Icelandic: þögn er gulls ígildi, (similar: no one is completely stupid if they can hold their silence) enginn er allheimskur ef þegja má

Indonesian: diam itu emas
Italian: il silenzio è d'oro, la parola è d'argento, il silenzio è d'oro
Japanese: 沈黙は金雄弁は銀 (chinmoku wa kin yūben wa gin), (not saying is a flower) 言わぬが花 (ja) (いわぬがはな, iwanu ga hana)
Latin: silentium est aurum
Polish: milczenie jest złotem
Portuguese: o silêncio é ouro
Russian: сло́во — серебро́, молча́ние — зо́лото (slóvo — serebró, molčánije — zóloto), молча́ние — зо́лото (molčánije — zóloto)
Scottish Gaelic: 's fhearr a bhith sàmhach na droch dhan a ghabhail, cha déid cuileag am beul dùinte, am fear a ghléidheas a theangaidh, ghléidhidh e a charaid
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ћутање је злато

Roman: ćutanje je zlato
Spanish: el silencio es oro, por la boca muere el pez
Swedish: tiga är guld
Vietnamese: im lặng là vàng

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