Maybe I was naïve to think that silence was implicit complacence, instead of a festering question. Maybe I was silly to believe that friends owed each other anything.

About This Quote

Nelson Mandela said, "Maybe I was na�ve to think that silence was implicit complacence, instead of a festering question." Mandela was talking about the power that silence has. Silence means accepting that you have no idea what someone else is thinking or feeling. It means you have made up your mind on how to act and you are not willing to listen to others anymore. However, Nelson Mandela believes that silence can be a bad thing.

Usually, people are not silent because they are dumb or don't care about the others, they are silent because they are trying to figure out how to act next. People are quiet because they don't know how to respond. Silence implies that there is something wrong with the other person, which isn't the case at all.

Source: Handle With Care

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