English [ edit ] Etymology [ edit ] Calque of Latin silentium est aureum ( “ silence is golden ” ) .
Proverb [ edit ] silence is golden
Peace and quiet have great value .
1877 Charles Reade , chapter 21, in A Woman-Hater [1] "[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 , chapter 2, in Walter Sherwood's Probation :But I have spoken long enough. There are times when silence is golden , and one of those times is at hand.
1987 April 4, T.R. Witomski, “witomski responds to readers' response to witomski (letter)”, in Gay Community News , page 6:I shouldn't lower myself to respond to the personal attacks on me, but silence , as the current scandal plaguing the federal administration shows, is n't golden .
Related terms [ edit ] Translations [ edit ] proverb
Arabic: اَلسُّكُوتُ مِن ذَهَبٍ ( as-sukūtu min ḏahabin )
Bulgarian: мълча́нието е зла́то ( mǎlčánieto e zláto )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 沉默是金 (zh) ( chénmò shì jīn )
Czech: mlčeti zlato
Danish: tale er sølv, tavshed er guld
Finnish: vaikeneminen on kultaa
French: le silence est d’or
German: Schweigen ist Gold
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 enginn er allheimskur ef þegja má ( literally “ no one is completely stupid if they can hold their silence ” )
Indonesian: diam itu emas
Italian: il silenzio è d'oro
Japanese: 沈黙は金雄弁は銀 ( chinmoku wa kin yūben wa gin ) , 言わぬが花 (ja) ( いわぬがはな, iwanu ga hana , literally “ not saying is a flower ” )
Latin: silentium est aurum
Macedonian: молчењето е злато ( molčenjeto e zlato )
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