Quotations about:
    talking


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It is a sad thing when men have neither enough intelligence to speak well nor enough sense to hold their tongues.
 
[C’est une grande misère que de n’avoir pas assez d’esprit pour bien parler, ni assez de jugement pour se taire.]

Jean de La Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 5 “Of Society and Conversation [De la Société et de la Conversation],” § 18 (5.18) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

'Tis a sad thing when Men have neither Wit enough to speak well, nor Sense enough to hold their tongues.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

'Tis a sad thing when Men have neither Wit enough to speak well, nor Judgment enough to hold their Tongues.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

It is a sad Thing when Men have neither Wit to speak well, nor Judgment to hold their Tongues.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

It is a great misfortune to have neither wit enough to talk well nor sense enough to keep silence.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]

 
Added on 10-Jan-24 | Last updated 10-Jan-24
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It is easier not to speak a word at all, than not to speak more words than we should.

[Facilius est enim tacere quam in verbo non excedere.]

Thomas von Kempen
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471) German-Dutch priest, author
The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 1, ch. 20, v. 2 (1.20.2) (c. 1418-27) [ed. Parker (1841)]
    (Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

For it is not so hard to keep always silence, as it is not to exceed in words when we speak much.
[tr. Whitford/Raynal (1530/1871)]

For it is not so hard always to keep silence as it is not to exceed in words when we speak much.
[tr. Whitford/Gardiner (1530/1955)]

It is easier not to speak a word at all, then not to speake more words then we should.
[tr. Page (1639), 1.20.6]

'Tis certainly much easier for a Man to restrain himself from Talking at all, than to enter into Discourse, and not say more than becomes him.
[tr. Stanhope (1696; 1706 ed.)]

For it is much easier to be wholly silent, than not to exceed in word.
[tr. Payne (1803), 1.20.3]

It is much easier to be wholly silent, than not to exceed in talk.
[tr. Dibdin (1851)]

It is easier to be altogether silent, than not to go to excess in speaking.
[ed. Bagster (1860)]

For it is easier to be altogether silent than it is not to exceed in word.
[tr. Benham (1874)]

It is easier not to speak at all, than not to exceed in speech.
[tr. Anon. (1901)]

It is easier to be silent altogether than not to speak too much.
[tr. Croft/Bolton (1940)]

It is easier to be quite silent than not to say a word too much.
[tr. Daplyn (1952)]

It is easier to keep silence altogether than not to talk more than we should.
[tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]

Easier to keep your mouth shut than to talk without saying too much.
[tr. Knox-Oakley (1959)]

It is easier to keep quiet altogether than not to say a word too much.
[tr. Knott (1962)]

To remain entirely silent is easier than not to talk too much.
[tr. Rooney (1979)]

It is easier to be completely silent than not to be long-winded.
[tr. Creasy (1989)]

 
Added on 26-Jul-23 | Last updated 28-Sep-23
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The art of conversation, or the qualification for a good companion, is a certain self-control, which now holds the subject, now lets it go, with a respect for the emergencies of the moment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1854)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820–1872, Vol. 3 (1912).
 
Added on 21-Jul-23 | Last updated 21-Jul-23
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A foolish man speaks foolishness.

[Μῶρα γὰρ μῶρος λέγει.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Bacchæ [Βάκχαι], l. 369 [Tiresias/Τειρεσίας] (405 BC) [tr. Wodhull (1809)]
    (Source)

To Cadmus, about his grandson, Pentheus. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

Folly issues from the mouth of fools.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]

Fools still speak folly.
[tr. Milman (1865)]

Fools blurt their folly out.
[tr. Rogers (1872), l. 357]

The words of a fool are folly.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Fools alone speak folly.
[tr. Way (1898)]

Blind words and a blind heart.
[tr. Murray (1902)]

The words of fools finish in folly.
[tr. Arrowsmith (1960)]

He who speaks folly is himself a fool.
[tr. Kirk (1970)]

The things he has said reveal the depth of his folly.
[tr. Vellacott (1973)]

It is a fool who folly speaks.
[tr. Neuburg (1988)]

You can tell a dangerous fool by his own words.
[tr. Cacoyannis (1982)]

For a fool speaks folly.
[tr. Blessington (1993)]

For Pentheus is a fool and says foolish things.
[tr. Esposito (1998)]

He who speaks foolishness is a fool.
[tr. Woodruff (1999)]

The fool speaks foolish things.
[tr. Gibbons/Segal (2000), l. 435]

His talk is folly and he's a fool.
[tr. Kovacs (2002)]

Often a fool speaks foolishly.
[tr. Valerie (2005)]

A man who's mad tends to utter madness.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

His foolish words will end in folly.
[tr. Robertson (2014)]

A fool says foolish things.
[tr. @sentantiq (2016)]

The speech of the fool is foolish.
[tr. @sentantiq (2018)]

The tongue of a fool makes a foolish noise.
[tr. Behr/Foster (2019)]

For a foolish man says foolish things.
[tr. Buckley/Sens/Nagy (2020)]

 
Added on 28-Feb-23 | Last updated 11-Jul-23
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I don’t care how smart you are, if you say something you are liable to say something foolish, and the smarter you are, and the longer you talk, the more foolish things you will say.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
“Weekly Article” column (24 Aug 1924)
    (Source)
 
Added on 25-Jan-23 | Last updated 25-Jan-23
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The tongue is a wild beast; once let loose it is difficult to chain.

[Es fiera la lengua, que si una vez se suelta, es muy dificultosa de poderse volver a encadenar.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 222 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
    (Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

The Tongue is a wild Beast, very hard to be chained again, when once it is let loose. [Flesher ed. (1685)]
The tongue is a beast, which once at large, is hard to recapture and to chain.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

The tongue is a wild animal, and once it breaks loose, it is hard to return to its cage.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]

 
Added on 3-Oct-22 | Last updated 9-Jan-23
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Not to talk with people although they can be talked with is to waste people. To talk with people although they can’t be talked with is to waste words. A man of understanding does not waste people, but he also does not waste words.

[子曰、可與言、而不與之言、失人、不可與言、而與之言、失言、知者不失人、亦不失言。]

Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
The Analects [論語, 论语, Lúnyǔ], Book 15, verse 8 (15.8) (6th C. BC – 3rd C. AD) [tr. Dawson (1993)]
    (Source)

(Source (Chinese)). Older translations use Legge's original verse divisions and numbering (15.7).

The passage contains a native pun, combining both noun and verb senses of yén [言] (talk), which is difficult to translate into English (leading to blends of "speak" and "talk" and "words"). Alternate translations:

When a man may be spoken with, not to speak to him is to err in reference to the man. When a man may not be spoken with, to speak to him is to err in reference to our words. The wise err neither in regard to their man nor to their words.
[tr. Legge (1861), 15.7]

Not to speak to a man to whom you ought to speak, is to lose your man; to speak to one to whom you ought not to speak is to lose your words. those who are wise will not lose their man, nor yet their words.
[tr. Jennings (1895), 15.7]

When you meet the proper person to speak to and do not speak out, you lose your opportunity; but when you meet one who is not a proper person to speak to and you speak to him, you waste your words. A man of intelligence never loses his opportunity, neither does he waste his words.
[tr. Ku Hung-Ming (1898), 15.7]

Not to enlighten one who can be enlightened is to waste a man; to enlighten one who cannot be enlightened is to waste words. The intelligent man neither wastes his man nor his words.
[tr. Soothill (1910), 15.7]

When you should talk to a man, and don’t, you lose the man; when it’s no use talking to a man, and you talk to him, you waste words. An intelligent man wastes (loses) neither men nor words.
[tr. Pound (1933), 15.7]

Not to talk to one who could be talked to, is to waste a man. To talk to those who cannot be talked to, is to waste one's words. He who is truly wise never wastes a man; but on the other hand, he never wastes his words.
[tr. Waley (1938), 15.7]

If we fail to speak with a man who can be spoken with, we lose a man. If we do speak with a man who cannot be spoken with, our words go for nought. The wise lose neither man nor words.
[tr. Ware (1950), 15.8]

When you find a person worthy to talk to and fail to talk to him, you have lost your man. When you find a man unworthy to talk to and you talk to him, you have lost (i.e., wasted) your words. A wise man neither loses his man, nor loses his words.
[tr. Lin Yutang (1938)]

To fail to speak to a man who is capable of benefiting is to let a man go to waste. To speak to a man who is incapable of benefiting is to let one's words go to waste. A wise man lets neither men nor words go to waste.
[tr. Lau (1979), 15.8]

When dealing with a man who is capable of understanding your teaching, if you do not teach him, you waste the man. When dealing with a man who is incapable of understanding your teaching, if you do teach him, you waste your teaching. A wise teacher wastes no man and wastes no teaching.
[tr. Leys (1997), 15.8]

If a man is worth talking to and you do not talk to him, you lose a man; if a man is not worth talking to and you talk to him, you lose your words. The man of wisdom neither loses a man nor loses his words.
[tr. Huang (1997), 15.8]

When you should talk with one, you do not talk with one, it means to lose the people. When you should not talk with one, you talk with one, it means to lose the word. A wise person does not lose the people, and does not lose the word too.
[tr. Cai/Yu (1998), 15.8 / #392]

To fail to speak to someone who can be engaged is to let that person go to waste; to speak to someone who cannot be engaged is to waste your words. The wise [zhi] do not let people go to waste, but they do not waste their words, either.
[tr. Ames/Rosemont (1998), 15.8]

If he can be talked to and you do not talk to him, you waste the man. If he cannot be talked to and you talk to him, you waste your talk. The knowledgeable will not waste a man, but will also not waste his talk.
[tr. Brooks/Brooks (1998), 15.8]

When a person is capable of understanding your words, and you refuse to speak, you're wasting a person. When a person isn't capable of understanding your words, and you speak anyway, you're wasting words. The wise waste neither words nor people.
[tr. Hinton (1998), 15.8]

If it's someone you ought to speak to and you fail to speak, you waste a person. If it's someone you ought not to speak to and you speak, you waste words. The wise man doesn't waste people and doesn't waste words, either.
[tr. Watson (2007), 15.8]

Not to speak to a man who is capable of absorbing what you say is to let the man go to waste. To speak to a man who is incapable of absorbing what you say is to let your words go to waste. A person of wisdom does not let either men or words go to waste.
[tr. Annping Chin (2014), 15.8]

When it is appropriate and feasible to speak [and give advice] to a person, but you refrain from doing so, you will lose a friend. When it is inappropriate or infeasible to speak to a person, but you speak anyhow, you misspeak.
[tr. Li (2020), 15.8]

 
Added on 5-Jul-22 | Last updated 8-May-23
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A sick man that gets talking about himself, a woman that gets talking about her baby, and an author that begins reading out of his own book, never know when to stop.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, ch. 11 (1872)
    (Source)
 
Added on 15-Dec-21 | Last updated 15-Dec-21
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It must be remembered also that he who can talk with himself has no need of another’s conversation.

[Etinim, qui secum loqui poterit, sermonem alterius non requiret.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 5, ch. 40 (5.40) / sec. 117 (45 BC) [tr. Peabody (1886)]
    (Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

For he that can speak with himself; will not much need the Discourse of another.
[tr. Wase (1643)]

Whoever can converse with himself doth not need the conversation of another.
[tr. Main (1824)]

For the man who can speak with himself, does not require the discourse of another.
[tr. Otis (1839)]

Whoever can converse with himself doth not need the conversation of another.
[tr. Yonge (1853)]

One who can converse with himself will not miss the conversation of someone else.
[tr. Douglas (1990)]

He who can talk to himself, will have no need of another’s conversation.
[tr. @sentantiq (2012)]

A man who is able to hold conversation with himself will not need another with whom to converse.
[tr. Davie (2017)]

 
Added on 11-Nov-21 | Last updated 11-Aug-22
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Good conversation can leave you more exhilarated than alcohol; more refreshed than the theater or a concert. It can bring you entertainment and pleasure; it can help you get ahead, solve problems, spark the imagination of others. It can increase your knowledge and education. It can erase misunderstandings, and bring you closer to those you love.

Dorothy Sarnoff
Dorothy Sarnoff (1914-2008) American opera singer, actress, image consultant
Speech Can Change Your Life (1971)
    (Source)
 
Added on 8-Jul-21 | Last updated 8-Jul-21
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There is a time for long tales, but there is also a time for sleep.

[Ὥρη μὲν πολέων μύθων, ὥρη δὲ καὶ ὕπνου.]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 379 (11.379) [Odysseus] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Rieu (1946)]
    (Source)

On being asked by King Alcinoüs to continue his tale of journeying to the Land of the Dead. Original Greek. Alternate translations:

  • '“Most eminent king,” said he, “times all must keep, / There’s time to speak much, time as much to sleep.' [tr. Chapman (1616)]
  • "There is a time for talk, a time for rest." [tr. Hobbes (1675), l. 362]
  • "Since yet the early hour of night allows / Time for discourse, and time for soft repose." [tr. Pope (1725)]
  • "The time suffices yet / For converse both and sleep." [tr. Cowper (1792), l. 460-61]
  • "Night is the time for converse, night for rest." [tr. Worsley (1861), st. 54]
  • "A time there is for speech / Howe'er prolong'd: a time, too, for repose." [tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 585]
  • "A time there is for tales -- and a time for sleep!" [tr. Bigge-Wither (1869), l. 378]
  • "There is a time for many words and there is a time for sleep." [tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]
  • "Time is for words abundant, and time for sleep maybe." [tr. Morris (1887)]
  • "There is a time for stories and a time for sleep." [tr. Palmer (1891)]
  • "There is a time for making speeches, and a time for going to bed." [tr. Butler (1898)]
  • "There is a time for many words and there is a time also for sleep." [tr. Murray (1919)]
  • "Surely there is a time for long speaking and a time for sleep." [tr. Lawrence (1932)]
  • "There is a time for story telling; there is also a time for sleep." [tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]
  • "There is a time for many words, and a time for sleeping." [tr. Lattimore (1965)]
  • "It's true that there's still time for tales and talk, / yet there is, too, a time for sleep." [tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]
  • "There is a time for many words, a time for sleep as well." [tr. Fagles (1996)]
  • "There is a time for words and a time for sleep." [tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 389]
  • "There is a time for long tales, but there is also a time for sleep." [tr. DCH Rieu (2002)]
  • "There is a time for long tales, and there is a time for sleep." [tr. Verity (2016)]
  • "It is a time for many tales, but also a time for sleep." [tr. Wilson (2017)]
  • "There's a time for long stories, and a time for sleep." [tr. Green (2018)]
  • "There’s a time / for many stories and a time for sleep." [tr. Johnston (2019), l. 477-78]
 
Added on 26-May-21 | Last updated 9-Dec-21
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Now, that man is more of a political animal than bees or any other gregarious animals is evident. Nature, as we often say, makes nothing in vain, and man is the only animal whom she has endowed with the gift of speech.

[διότι δὲ πολιτικὸν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ζῷον πάσης μελίττης καὶ παντὸς ἀγελαίου ζῴου μᾶλλον, δῆλον. οὐθὲν γάρ, ὡς φαμέν, μάτην ἡ φύσις ποιεῖ·]

Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 1, ch. 2, sec. 10 / 1253a.7-11 [tr. Jowett (1885)]
    (Source)

Original Greek. Alternate translations:

  • "And that man is a social animal in a fuller sense than any bee or gregarious animal is evident; for nature, we say, makes nothing without an object, and man is the only animal that possesses rational speech." [tr. Bolland (1877)]
  • "The gift of speech also evidently proves that man is a more social animal than the bees, or any of the herding cattle: for nature, as we say, does nothing in vain, and man is the only animal who enjoys it." [tr. Ellis (1912)]
  • "And why man is a political animal in a greater measure than any bee or any gregarious animal is clear. For nature, as we declare, does nothing without purpose; and man alone of the animals possesses speech." [tr. Rackham (1932)]
  • "That man is much more a political animal than any kind of bee or any herd animal is clear. For, as we assert, nature does nothing in vain; and man alone among the animals has speech." [tr. Lord (1984)]
  • "It is also clear why a human is more of a political animal than any bee or any other gregarious animal. For nature does nothing pointlessly, as we say, and a human being alone among the animals has speech." [tr. Reeve (2007)]
  • "It is clear that man is a political animal, more than every bee and herd animal: for nature makes nothing in vain and man alone of living things has reason." [tr. @sentantiq (2011)]
 
Added on 12-Feb-21 | Last updated 12-Feb-21
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Ultimately, the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or friendship, is conversation.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
“Epistola: In Carcere et Vinculis,” Letter to Alfred Douglas (Mar 1897)
    (Source)

Wilde titled the letter, written while in prison in Reading, England, Epistola: In Carcere et Vinculis ("Letter: In Prison and in Chains"). Upon release, the letter was entrusted to Robert Ross, who in 1905, after Wilde's death, published an edited version under the title De Profundis ("From the Depths," from Psalm 130), and later editions have retained that name. This quotation was not in the 1905 edition, but in the eventually fully-restored version in Wilde's complete letters. More information on the history of the letter here.
 
Added on 1-Jan-19 | Last updated 25-Feb-22
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Man is a talking animal and he will always let himself be swayed by the power of the word.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) French author, existentialist philosopher, feminist theorist
Les Belles Images (1966)
    (Source)
 
Added on 12-Feb-18 | Last updated 12-Feb-18
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Talk doesn’t cook rice.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Chinese proverb

Also attributed to the Japanese.
 
Added on 3-May-17 | Last updated 3-May-17
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The noisiest streams are the shallowest.

(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
 
Added on 19-Apr-17 | Last updated 19-Apr-17
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We seldom regret talking too little, but very often talking too much. This is a well-known maxim which everybody knows and nobody practices.

[L’on se repent rarement de parler peu, très souvent de trop parler: maxime usée et triviale que tout le monde sait, et que tout le monde ne pratique pas.]

Jean de La Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 11 “Of Mankind [De l’Homme],” § 149 (11.149) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

We seldom repent talking too little, but very often talking too much, a common and trivial maxim which every body knows, and no body practices.
[Bullord ed. (1696) and Curll ed. (1713)]

We seldom repent talking too little, but very often talking too much; a common obsolete Maxim, which every body knows, and no body practices.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

We seldom repent of speaking little, and very often of speaking too much; a well-worn and familiar maxim, that everyone knows but that not everyone practices.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]

 
Added on 22-Feb-17 | Last updated 6-Jun-23
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A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) American author [pseud. for Geoffrey Crayon]
“Rip Van Winkle,” The Sketch Book (1820)
 
Added on 15-Feb-17 | Last updated 15-Feb-17
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Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter to J. H. Tiffany (31 Mar 1819)
    (Source)
 
Added on 15-Feb-17 | Last updated 15-Feb-17
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But remember that talking is one of the fine arts — the noblest, the most important, the most difficult — and its fluent harmonies may be spoiled by the intrusion of a single harsh note. Therefore conversation which is suggestive rather than argumentative, which lets out the most of each talker’s results of thought, is commonly the pleasantest and the most profitable.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
“The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” Atlantic Monthly (1858-01)
    (Source)

Collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 3 (1858).
 
Added on 13-Feb-17 | Last updated 4-May-23
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The tongue is not steele, yet it cuts.

George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 838 (1640 ed.)
    (Source)
 
Added on 8-Feb-17 | Last updated 22-Dec-23
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Every man hears only what he understands.

goethe-every-man-hears-understands-wist_info-quote

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe, #385 [tr. Saunders (1892)]
 
Added on 25-Jan-17 | Last updated 25-Jan-17
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A soft Tongue may strike hard.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Oct 1744)
 
Added on 18-Jan-17 | Last updated 18-Jan-17
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Far more numerous was the herd of such,
Who think too little, and who talk too much.

John Dryden (1631-1700) English poet, dramatist, critic
Absalom and Achitophel, l. 533 (1681)
 
Added on 28-Dec-16 | Last updated 28-Dec-16
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There was much conversation, most of which sounded like the rest of it.

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) American novelist, playwright
Arrowsmith, ch. 14 (1925)
 
Added on 3-Nov-15 | Last updated 3-Nov-15
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God gave us teeth to hold back our tongue.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Greek proverb
 
Added on 13-Nov-14 | Last updated 13-Nov-14
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Even fools who keep silent are considered wise;
when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent.

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Proverbs 17:28 [NRSV (2021 ed.)]
    (Source)

See Twain.

Alternate translations:

Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
[KJV (1611)]

If a fool can hold his tongue, even he can pass for wise, and pass for clever if he keeps his lips tight shut.
[JB (1966)]

After all, even fools may be thought wise and intelligent if they stay quiet and keep their mouths shut.
[GNT (1976)]

If the fool holds his tongue, he may pass for wise; if he seals his lips, he may pass for intelligent.
[NJB (1985)]

Fools who keep quiet are deemed wise;
those who shut their lips are smart.
[CEB (2011)]

Even fools who keep silent are deemed wise;
Intelligent, while their mouth is shut.
[RJPS (2023 ed.)]

 
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You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
    (Source)

Sometimes given as "You ain't learning anything when you're talking."

Reported, not as a quote, but as a sign on his wall while a US Senator, in Leslie Carpenter, "A Man of Complexity," Boston Herald (1963-12-01), read into the Congressional Record, House of Representatives (1963-12-03) by House Speaker John W. McCormack (D-RI).
 
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BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Bore,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
    (Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
 
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Talking is like playing on the harp; there is as much in laying the hand on the strings to stop their vibrations as in twanging them to bring out their music.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
“The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” Atlantic Monthly (1857-11)
    (Source)

Collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 1 (1858)
 
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