[link to original on tumblr]
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That same phrase (albeit in a different key, so it's F, Gb, Ab) is also in "Pyramania." There, it's the vocal melody for "I had read" (and for "I've been told" and "It's no lie" later in the song).
According to the Alan Parsons Project's website, Andrew Powell did the orchestration for "Silence and I." While he wasn't involved with "Pyramania," he was involved with other songs on the Pyramid album (and even back to Tales of Mystery and Imagination), so I think he deliberately put in that little quotation as a reference to that earlier APP song.