I cannot guess why it is so, but those who know the least speak the most.
[E non so io indovinare donde ciò proceda, che chi meno sa più ragioni.]
Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556) Florentine poet, author, diplomat, bishop
Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners [Il Galateo overo de’ costumi], ch. 24 (1558) [tr. Einsenbichler/Bartlett (1986)]
(Source)
(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:
Nor can I guess at the cause, (though it is certainly fact) why he that knows the least, should always talk the most.
[tr. Graves (1774)]
I cannot divine how it happens that the man who knows the least is the most argumentative.
[Source]
Quotations about:
loquaciousness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Some judge books by their thickness, as though they had been written to exercise the arms, instead of the mind.
[Estiman algunos los libros por la corpulencia, como si se escriviessen para exercitar antes los braços que los ingenios.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 27 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
Some value Books for their bulk, as if they were made rather to load the Arms than to exercise the mind.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
Some reckon books by the thickness, as if they were written to try the brawn more than the brain.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]
Some praise books for their girth, as if they were written to exercise our arms, not our wits.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
