“silence is not sought for its own sake but, rather, for the space it makes.”

From The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, Cardinal Robert Sarah and Nicolas Diat:

Silence for us is a form of asceticism and a desire. Asceticism because you have to understand that silence demands an effort, but, more than that, it attracts us and we need it. Simple things are always difficult to explain. A person who is trying to hear a bird-song will be quite irritated if an airplane flies over; his space for perception is then reduced, and he can no longer hear the bird. Make no mistake: silence is not sought for its own sake but, rather, for the space it makes. Silence allows us to perceive better and to hear better; it opens our inner space.