Silence And Speech

Quare cum silentio? Quia in multiloquio non effugietur peccatum, quia hoc admonuit Apostolus, quia ante Apostolum propheta dixit: Obmutui et humiliatus sum et silui, etiam, a bonis: et dolor meus renovatus est. Nihil magis extra se cor hominiis effundit, quam multiloquium; nihil citius incurrit vaniloquium, aut stultiloquium, aut etiam turpiloquium, quam multiloquium. Ideo propter multiloquium fugiendum, silemus etiam a bonis, ne detar occasio malis.     ...Tectus magis aestuat ignis. Unus motus animi, si verbositate foras non effunditur, jugi rotatu, sicut flamma ignis, intus circumvolvitur; omniaque interioris conscientiae perlustrans, ea offendit de quibus ei dolor compunctionis salubriter renovatur. Cor quoque quia foris non evaporat, intus concalescens ex igne compunctionis urente, ignem creat lucentuem, quem in meditatione sursum dirigit. In meditatione, inquit, meae exardescet ignis. Sic fit ut qui silente? foris hominibus didicit, ipsi Deo intus loqui incipiat. Locutus sum, inquit, in lingua mea: Notum fac mihi, Domine finem meum. Praesentium contemptor, et quae retro sunt oblitus, de fine interroget: ecce quare silentio. Isaac Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo L, In Natali Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, Source: Migne PL 194.1859a-b

And why silence? Because loquacity does not drive sin to flight, which the Apostle admonished, and before the Apostle the Prophet said, 'I was dumb and I was humiliated and I was silent,' and even, 'for the sake of the good, and my grief was renewed.' 1 He who is always speaking pours out nothing more than his own heart to men, and nothing so swiftly runs into vain speech or foolish speech, and even talk of filth, than much speech. Therefore one must fly loquacity. Let us be silent for the sake of the good, lest we give an occasion for evil. ...Hotter the blaze of the hidden fire.  2   There is one movement of the soul if verbosity does not pour it outside itself; it revolves in its yoke, like a flame of fire, turning around within and brightening all the things of the interior conscience, those things which offend by which the grief of compunction is well renewed. Also, the heart which does not let itself evaporate outside itself, with the burning of the fire of compunction heating it within, creates the light of the fire which in meditation directs one above. 'In meditation,' he says, 'my fire blazed up.' 3 So will it not be for him who is silent? He has learned from men outside, within he begins to speak to God. 'I spoke with my tongue,' he says, ' make known to me, O Lord, my end.' 4 He who has contempt for present things, and forgets what is behind, will enquire concerning the end. And so understand why he is silent. Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 50, On the Feast of Peter and Paul 1 Ps 38.3 2. Ovid Met 4.64 3. Ps 38.4 4 Ps 38.5