Do you know the old saying, 'silence is golden'? Well, that saying is wrong, for silence is not golden – since when have Gryffindors, pranksters that they are, even known the meaning of the word 'silence'? No, silence is not golden; it is silver.
You see, we of Slytherin are silent snakes – well, most of us are anyway. We are the only calm within the storm that is Hogwarts, the only ones with clear enough minds to comprehend the truth.
It is probably because of our silence and our coldness that we have been shunned by the rest of society for so long: maybe, if someone had spoken up and defended the honour of our House long ago, we would not be shunned as we are. But it is too late now to be thinking of what might have been.
We of Slytherin are ambitious and cunning, I do not deny that, but by far our most prevalent qualities are our silence, invisibility and ability to observe the happenings around us. All of those combined take us to the heights of society; it had nothing to do with blackmail and 'evilness' as many non-Slytherins would claim.
As for what Slytherin means to me? It means observance, open-mindedness and the ability to accept the truth. But most of all it means silence; for each and every one of us is, in truth, a silent snake, waiting in the grass of the jungle of life to strike the unwitting and unwary. Yes indeed, silence is not golden; silence is silver.