It takes more time and effort and delicacy to learn the silence of a people than to learn its sounds. Some people have a special gift for this. Perhaps this explains why some missionaries, notwithstanding their efforts, never come to speak properly. . .
Source: Celebration of Awareness, ch. 4 (1969).
-- Ivan Illich, ( 1926-2002), Austrian-born US writer; He is best known for his writings on sociology and theology in Celebration of Awareness, 1969.