“The virtue of silence does not mean that we must never speak. It invites us to remain mute when there are no good reasons to speak up. Ecclesiastes says: ‘There is … a time to keep silence, and a time to speak’ (Eccles 3:7). Referring to these words, Saint Gregory of Nyssa remarks: ‘The time to keep silence is mentioned first, because by silence we learn the art of speaking well.’ When, therefore, should a Christian who desires to become holy be silent, and when should he speak? He should be silent when it is not necessary to speak, and he should speak when necessity or charity requires it. Saint Chrysostom gives the following rule: ‘Speak only when it is more useful to speak than to be silent.’

“Saint Arsenius acknowledges that he often regretted having spoken, but never regretted having kept silence. Saint Ephrem says: ‘Speak much with God but little with men’.”

Sarah, Robert Cardinal with Nicolas Diat. The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. With an Afterword by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Translated by Michael J. Miller. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), p. 239.