from the notebooks of the mahatma

"When one comes to think of it one cannot help feeling
that nearly half the misery of the world would
disappear if we, fretting mortals, knew the virtue of
silence. Before modern civilization came upon us, at
least six to eight hours of silence out of twenty-four
were vouchsafed to us. Modern civilization has taught
us to convert night into day and golden silence into
brazen din and noise. What a great thing it would be
if we in our busy lives could retire into ourselves
each day for at least a couple of hours and prepare
our minds to listen in to the Voice of the Great
Silence. The Divine Radio is always singing if we
could only make ourselves ready to liste to It, but
it's impossible to listen without silence."

M.K. GANDHI - Harijian, 24/9/1938, P. 267 (From "Notes")