WIST Quotations

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1747 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:01:47 +0000

A Slip of the Foot you may soon recover:
But a Slip of the Tongue you may never get over.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1747 ed.)
(Source)

See Bible, Sirach 20:18; also Poor Richard (1734 ed.).

Bible, Vol. 1. Old Testament -- Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 20:18 (Sir 20:18) [tr. NRSV (2021 ed.), Ecclesiasticus]

Dave — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:33:23 +0000

A slip on the pavement is better than a slip of the tongue;
the downfall of the wicked will occur just as speedily.

[Ὀλίσθημα ἀπὸ ἐδάφους μᾶλλον ἢ ἀπὸ γλώσσης.
οὕτως πτῶσις κακῶν κατὰ σπουδὴν ἥξει.]

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 20:18 (Sir 20:18) [tr. NRSV (2021 ed.), Ecclesiasticus]
(Source)

See Franklin (1747).

More on the history and acceptance of this Apocryphal book here and here.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

To slip upon a pavement is better than to slip with the tongue: so the fall of the wicked shall come speedily.
[tr. KJV (1611), Ecclesiasticus]

The slipping of a false tongue is as one that falleth on the pavement: so the fall of the wicked shall come speedily.
[tr. DRA (1899); Sirach 20:20]

Better a slip on the pavement than a slip of the tongue;
this is how ruin takes the wicked by surprise.
[tr. [tr. JB (1966), NJB (1985); Ecclesiasticus]

A slip of the tongue is worse than a slip on the pavement; the wicked will go to ruin just as suddenly as a person slips and falls.
[tr. GNT (1992 ed.), Sirach]

A slip on the pavement is preferable
to a slip of the tongue;
so the downfall of evil people
will come quickly.
[tr. CEB (2011), Sirach]

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1734 ed.)

Dave — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 17:58:42 +0000

Better slip with foot than tongue.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1734 ed.)
(Source)

See Poor Richard (1747 ed.); also Bible, Sirach 20:18.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1859-01), “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:26:33 +0000

Nobody talks much that does n’t say unwise things, — things he did not mean to say; as no person plays much without striking a false note sometimes. Talk, to me, is only spading up the ground for crops of thought. I can’t answer for what will turn up.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1859-01), “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

Collected in The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, ch. 1 (1859).