The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (497 page)

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, silence is a woman's ornament. The passage of St. Paul alluded to in quot. 1539 is I CORINTHIANS xiv. 34 (AV) Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak.
1539
tr.
Erasmus' Adages 50 Mulierem ornat silentium
.
Silence garnysheth a woman .. whych thynge also the Apostle Paule requyreth.
1659
Proverbs
(English) 11
Silence the best ornament of a woman.
1732
Gnomologia
no. 4166
Silence is a fine Jewel for a Woman; but it's little worn.
1977
Five-Minute Marriage
iv.
Quiet, miss! Silence is a woman's best garment.
speech and silence
;
women
SILENCE is golden
Sometimes in the fuller version
SPEECH is silver, but silence is golden
.
1865
Eastern England
II
. ix.
Silence is golden, says the proverb. We apprehend the full significance .. in some lone hamlet situate amid a ‘thousand fields.’
1923
Antic Hay
xx.
Silence is golden, as her father used to say when she used to fly into tempers and wanted to say nasty things to everybody within range.
1980
Spy Game
xxv.
‘I'll tell you the rest .. on the way back.’ He sealed her lips with a finger. ‘Meanwhile, silence is golden.’
speech an silence
SILENCE means consent
This is not a principle accepted in modern English law. However, Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) is said to have riposted with the Latin maxim when asked at his trial why he kept silent when asked to acknowledge the King's supremacy over the Church. Cf. L.
qui tacet consentire videtur
, he who is silent seems to consent.
c
1380
Select English Works
(1871) III. 349
Oo [one] maner of consent is, whanne a man is stille and tellith not.
1591
Endymion
v. iii.
Silence, Madame, consents.
c
1616
–30
Partial Law
(1908) v. iv.
‘I will nothing say’ … ‘Then silence gives consent.’
1847
Friends in Council
ix.
I have known a man .. bear patiently .. a serious charge which a few lines would have entirely answered.' .. ‘Silence does not give consent in these cases.’
1914
Wise Virgins
v.
He .. did not speak. ‘I assume that silence means consent,’ said Arthur.
1986
Dead Liberty
ii.
‘Silence is consent,’ said the superintendent. His knowledge of law had a magpie quality about it and he had picked up the phrase from somewhere.
speech and silence

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