Unwillingness dulls, and then deafens the ears.
"Quiet Talks about Jesus"
S. D. Gordon
What you wish: The streets are thicker in this noon of night, Than at the mid-day sun: A drouzy horror Sits on their eyes, like fear, not well awake: All crowd in heaps, as, at a night alarm, The bees drive out upon each others backs, T'imboss their hives in clusters; all ask news: Their busy captain runs the weary round To whisper orders; and, commanding silence, Makes not noise cease, but deafens it to murmurs.
"The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian"
John Dryden
Let the machines crash their sixty-eight times a minute, but remember each crash that deafens you is that much nearer the evening and me!"
"The Turmoil A Novel"
Booth Tarkington