Ignatius of Antioch (+ c. 108 AD)
“It is better to keep quiet and be, than to make fluent profession and not to be. No doubt it is a fine thing to instruct others, but only if the speaker practises what he preaches. One such teacher there is: he who spoke the word and it was done. And what he achieved even by his silences was well worthy of the father. One who has truly mastered the utterances of Jesus will also be able to apprehend his silence, and thus reach full spiritual maturity, so that his own words have the force of actions and his silence is the significance of speech.” (Letter to the Ephesians)
