A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

and 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 WYCLIF Select English Works (1871) III. 349 Oo [one] maner of consent is,

whanne a man is stille and tellith not. 1591 LYLY Endymion v. iii. Silence, Madame,

consents. c 1616–30 Partial Law (1908) v. iv. ‘I will nothing say.’ .. ‘Then silence gives

consent.’ 1847 A. HELPS 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 L. WOOLF Wise Virgins v. He.. did not speak. ‘I assume

that silence means consent,’ said Arthur. 1986 ‘C. AIRD’ 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

silence see also SPEECH is silver, but silence is golden.

You can’t make a SILK purse out of a sow’s ear

1518 A. BARCLAY Eclogues (EETS) v. 360 None can.. make goodly silke of a gotes

flece. 1579 S. GOSSON Ephemerides of Phialo 62 V Seekinge.. too make a silke purse of a

Sowes eare, that when it shoulde close, will not come togeather. 1672 W. WALKER

English & Latin Proverbs 44 You cannot make a .. silk purse of a sows ear; a scholar of a

blockhead. 1834 MARRYAT Peter Simple I. xii. The master.. having been brought up in a

collier, he could not be expected to be very refined. .. ‘It was impossible to make a silk

purse out of a sow’s ear.’ 1915 D. H. LAWRENCE Rainbow i. You can’t make a silk

purse out of a sow’s ear, as he told his mother very early, with regard to himself. 1985 M.

SLUNG Momilies 83 You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. possibility and

impossibility

silk see also an APE’S an ape, a varlet’s a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet.

silly see ASK a silly question and you get a silly answer.