Dishonesty is not the only alternative to honesty. There is also the highly underrated virtue of shutting up.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (2014-12-19)
(Source)
Collected in Minding Miss Manners: In an Era of Fake Etiquette (2020), though with a slight rephrasing:The only alternative to honesty is not dishonesty. There is also the highly underrated virtue of shutting up.
Quotations about:
keep quiet
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The true crime, the collective, general crime of almost all Germans of that time was that of lacking the courage to speak.
Primo Levi (1919-1987) Italian Jewish chemist and writer
The Drowned and the Saved, ch. 8 “Letters from Germans” (1986) [tr. Rosenthal (1888)]
(Source)
Regarding the Third Reich and the Holocaust.
If you would keep your Secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1741 ed.)
(Source)
Allowing an unimportant mistake to pass without a comment is a wonderful social grace […] Children who have the habit of constantly correcting should be stopped before they grow up to drive spouses and everyone else crazy by interrupting stories to say, “No, dear — it was Tuesday, not Wednesday.”
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Martin, but I am unable to find an original source.