"War and Peace"

     In Book 1, Part 2, Chapter 17, as Prince Andrei surveys the front lines just before a skirmish with the French, he notices the peculiar behavior of General Bagration, who never seems to be feeling or thinking anything. Andrei asks himself “Is there anything there behind that immobile face [of the general]?”

     However, by the end of the chapter, Andrei realizes that a strange, silent power exists in the general, a power that’s able to lighten the load in the soldiers’ hearts and help them hold themselves straighter and stronger. Wherever he goes, this reserved, settled, and unshakeable man makes people prouder of themselves than they were before.

     Thus, silence, instead of suggesting indifference and unresponsiveness, can imply a power greater than words. There’s equanimity in General Bagration, like a lake that’s calm while cannons roar around it -- and Prince Andrei admires it.