diff --git a/src/client.c b/src/client.c
index 231895fc..52903bb0 100644
--- a/src/client.c
+++ b/src/client.c
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ int client(int argc, char *argv[])
 		{NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
 	};
 
-	silent = 1;
 	progname(argv[0]);
 	while ((c = getopt_long(argc, argv, "h?v", long_options, NULL)) != EOF) {
 		switch(c) {
diff --git a/src/initctl.c b/src/initctl.c
index 3d71fed7..fe8abb7a 100644
--- a/src/initctl.c
+++ b/src/initctl.c
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ typedef struct {
 
 int debug    = 0;
 int verbose  = 0;
-int silent   = 1;		/* For helpers.c */
 int runlevel = 0;
 
 
@@ -672,7 +671,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			break;
 		}
 	}
-	silent = !verbose;
 
 	if (optind < argc) {
 		char *cmd = argv[optind++];