A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1539 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages 50 Mulierem ornat silentium. Silence garny-sheth a woman.. whych thynge also the Apostle Paule requyreth. 1659 J. HOWELL Proverbs (English) 11 Silence the best ornament of a woman. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 4166 Silence is a fine Jewel for a Woman; but it’s little worn. 1977 J. AIKEN Five-Minute Marriage iv. Quiet, miss! Silence is a woman’s best garment. ■ speech and silence; women

SILENCE is golden
Sometimes in the fuller version SPEECH is silver, but silence is golden.

• 
  1865 W. WHITE Eastern England II. ix. Silence is golden, says the proverb. We apprehend the full significance.. in some lone hamlet situate amid a ‘thousand fields’. 1923 A. HUXLEY Antic Hay xx. Silence is golden, as her father used to say when she used to fly into tempers and wanted to say nasty things to everybody within range. 2002 Washington Post 4 Apr. C13 (Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip) ‘What I don’t understand is.. how can campaign money be free speech.. but silence is golden?’ ■speech
  

and silence
SILENCE means consent
This is not a principle accepted in modern English law. However, Sir Thomas More (1478­1535) is said to have riposted with the Latin maxim when asked at his trial why he kept silent when asked to acknowledge the King’s supremacy over the Church. Cf. L. qui tacet consentire videtur, he who is silent seems to consent.

• 
  c 1380 WYCLIF Select English Works (1871) III. 349 Oo [one] maner of consent is, whanne a man is stille and tellith not. 1591 LYLY Endymion v. iii. Silence, Madame, consents. c 1616-30 Partial Law (1908) v. iv. ‘I will nothing say.’ .. ‘Then silence gives consent.’ 1847 A. HELPS Friends in Council ix. I have known a man.. bear patiently.. a serious charge which a few lines would have entirely answered.’.. ‘Silence does not give consent in these cases.’ 1914 L. WOOLF Wise Virgins v. He.. did not speak. ‘I assume that silence means consent,’ said Arthur. 1986 ‘C. AIRD’ Dead Liberty ii. ‘Silence is consent,’ said the superintendent. His knowledge of law had a magpie quality about it and he had picked up the phrase from somewhere. ■speech and silence