“In terms of shaping a silent life this image raises some interesting questions – is the silence in the hearing or the speaking? If I keep a journal, say, with no intention of ‘transmitting’ its content to anyone ever, is that a more silent activity than writing this book in the hope that you will read it and head what I have to say? Is writing, or even reading, which use language but not noise, ‘silent’ in any case?”

(Sara Maitland, A Book of Silence, p. 27.)