And yet there was an eerie stillness on Capitol Hill — like a moment of prolonged equipoise between inhalation and exhalation.

There was silence deep as death,
And the boldest held his breath,
For a time.

The rest, is silence.

It was a time of transition, which few recognized, and glutting national satisfaction. Students and scholars were silent.

When silence is prolonged over a certain period of time, it takes on new meaning.

He was very quiet for a moment. Where are you?

Silence hung in the air like secret loss.

Silence is deep as Eternity, speech is shallow as Time.

Mr Arbuthnot did not respond, but sat with a thin, weak smile, like winter sunshine upon a coffin lid.

No one wanted to betray his admiration. There was silence for a time.

Delivering the speech was a surreal experience. The delegates sat silent, almost frozen in place. It was like speaking to a wax museum.

Dead silence ensued, which was well enough for Ansell, to whom it merely meant that neither of us had any more to say. But to educated people silence matters; it is a token of stupidity and lack of invention.

Not a spoon clinked against a mug, not a creamer was popped, peeled and opened, not a breath. It was as though something else had joined them then. As though silence had taken a seat.

Speech is the small change of Silence.