Quoting Silence, March, 2026:
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A post throughout each week of the month, offering quotes and resources linked to one contemporary author who writes about silence and its role as a spiritual discipline. |
Different weeks of the month offer different resources, as below:
- first week: a short, image-backed quote with links to associated resources in the accompanying text
- middle weeks: a short, image-backed quote taken from a longer one by the author, found below the image
- last week: a short quote and questions to encourage reflection on all the month's quotations and images
Sarah Anderson, our author for March, is primarily knows for her longstanding associations with travel writing but has also published several books about spirituality, particularly relating to women.
You can find out more about her book, The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet (Shambhala, 2023), from which this month's quotes are taken, by clicking here.
You can find out more about her book, The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet (Shambhala, 2023), from which this month's quotes are taken, by clicking here.
Audio resources
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For a 5 minute audio guided meditation to use with each week's short quote, click play on the image. To pause and restart click the same place.
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An audio guided Lectio Divina for the longer quotes. Click play on the image above. Allow 10-15 minutes for this. For a text version, click the button.
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Monday 2nd March, 2026
Sarah Anderson, The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet (Shambhala, 2023), 97.
Image: June Wong, unsplash.com/@junio_006
To read more about Sarah Anderson's book, from which this month's quotes are taken, click here.
Sarah Anderson was educated at two colleges from the University of London: as an undergraduate, she studied Chinese at SOAS - the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Heythrop, the theological college, where she earned an MA in the psychology of religion.
Many people's closest association with Sarah will be from the sudden rise to prominence of The Travel Bookshop, which she established in London in 1979, and which was the real-life inspiration for Richard Curtis' film, the very British Rom-Com, Notting Hill, (1999), staring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. For an hour-long interview with her about the bookshop, see here. Sarah's love of travel also led to her writing several books and numerous articles on this subject, which evolved into teaching travel writing at City University and her long-standing role as a judge for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Awards. For more history about her travel writing and adventures, see here.
Sarah is a licenced Reader in the Church of England and a long-term meditator in the tradition of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM): see here. For a 40 minute YouTube video of Sarah talking about this book, and reading some extracts, see here. For an hour's interview about it with Raghu Markus, see here. Along with this month's book, Sarah has also edited collection that draw on her Christian faith in dialogue with other traditions. These include Heaven's Face, Thinly Veiled: A Book of Spiritual Writing by Women (Shambhala, 1998) - see here; and Of Women and Angels: The Virago Book of Spirituality (Virago, 1997) - see here. Sarah has also written an autobiography, Halfway to Venus: A One-armed Journey (Umbrella Books, 2008) - see here -, which details her experience of living with only one arm, along with that of others, and how people like her are portrayed in art and literature.
Sarah is also a painter and her paintings have been exhibited throughout London.