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The wise man has long ears, big eyes and a short tongue.
Russian Proverb
The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.
Shakespeare
Whatever is in the heart will come up to the tongue.
Persian Proverb
Good words are like a string of pearls.
Chinese Proverb
The crying cat catches nothing.
Arabian Proverb
The cask can only yield the wine it contains.
Italian Proverb
We have two ears and one mouth that we may listen the more and
talk the less.
Greek Proverb
Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of
sense beneath is rarely found.
Pope
Wit without discretion is a sword in the hand of a fool.
Spanish Proverb
Words are the voice of the heart.
Confucius
Talking comes by nature, silence by wisdom.
The chameleon, who is said to feed upon nothing but air, has of
all animals the nimblest tongue.
Swift
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice.
Shakespeare
Better be silent than speak ill.
Better say nothing than nothing to the purpose.
Those who know much speak little; those who speak much know
little.
Chinese Proverb
A fool's voice is known by a multitude of words.
Eccl. 5:7
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.
Prov. 17:28
Seeth thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more
hope of a fool than of him.
Prov. 29:20
Who knows most says least.
Great boaster, little doer.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life; but perverseness therein
is a breach in the spirit.
Prov. 15:4
A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up
anger.
Prov. 15:1
The fool shineth no longer than he holdeth his tongue.
The tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil --- full of
deadly poison.
James 3:8
No man ever repented of having held his tongue.
The tongue is not steel --- yet it cuts.
How oftentimes is silence the wiseth of replies.
Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from
troubles.
Prov. 21:23
Good silence is near holiness.
A slip of the foot may be soon recovered, but that of the tongue
perhaps never.
There is that speaketh like the piercing of a sword; but the
tongue of the wise is health.
Prov. 12:18
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
He that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.
Prov. 17:20
More have repented of speech than silence.
The tongue wounds more than a lance.
Silence is the best reply to the ignorant.
Persian Proverb
A great talker is a great liar.
He who would close another man's mouth should first tie up his
own.
He that can rule his tongue shall live without strife.
A flow of words is no proof of wisdom.
He who says what he likes, must hear what he does not like.
Be checked for silence, but never taxed for speech.
Shakespeare
A silent man's words are not brought into court.
He knows much who knows how to hold his tongue.
A fair face will get its praise, though the owner keep silent.
The tongue of the just is as choice silver.
Prov. 10:10
In the company of strangers silence is safe.
The froward tongue shall be cut out.
Prov. 10:10
The tongue talks at the head's cost.
Thistles and thorns prick sore, but evil tongues prick more.
Silence is an excellent remedy against slander.
Silence seldom doth harm.
In the cause of good be wise, and in a case indifferent, keep
silence.
M. Tupper
We ought either to be silent or to speak things that are better
than silence.
The worst wheel of a cart creaks most.
Silence is less injurious than a bad reply.
There is a knack of showing we understand the matter, when we hold
our peace.
Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words; be as
one that knoweth and yet holdeth his tongue.
One man may teach another to speak; but none can teach another to
hold his peace.
Neither speak well nor ill of yourself. If well, men will not
believe you; if ill, they will believe a great deal more than you
say.
When insolence provoketh, when slander false accuseth,
When ignorance and prejudice are full of idle talk,
Let silence be the answer on thy lip and in thy life.
A man of silence is a man of sense.
If you don't say it, you'll not have to unsay it.
He talks much who has least to say.
A tame tongue is a rare bird.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like
unto him.
Prov. 26:4
Speaking much is a sign of vanity, for he that is lavish in
words is niggard in deed.
Sir W. Raleigh
Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and one tongue, to the
end that we should hear and see more than we speak.
Socrates
Those who have few affairs to attend to are great speakers.
The less men think, the more they talk.
Montesquieu
Every absurdity has a champion to defend it, for error is
always talkative.
Goldsmith
He loves to hear himself talk, and will speak more in a minute
than he will stand to in a month.
Shakespeare
Be always less willing to speak than to hear; what thou
heareth, thou receiveth; what thou speaketh, thou giveth. It
is more glorious to give, but more profitable to receive.
Quarles
They only babble who practice not reflection. I shall think;
and thought is silence.
Sheridan
They always talk who never think, and who have the least to
say.
Prior
The tongue of a fool is the key of his counsel, which, in a
wise man, wisdom hath in keeping.
Socrates
No fool can be silent at a feast.
Solon
A man that speaks too much, and museth but little, wasteth his
mind in words, and is counted a fool among men.
Tupper
The tongue is at the same time, the best part of man, and the
worst: with good government, none is more useful; without it
none is more mischievous.
Anarcharsis
When we advance a little into life, we find that the tongue of
man creates nearly all the mischief of the world.
Paxton Hood
The cure of an evil tongue must be done at the heart. The
weights and wheels are there, and the clock strikes according
to their motion. A guileful heart makes a guileful tongue and
lips. It is the work-house where is the forge of deceits and
slanders; and the tongue is only the outer shop where they are
vended, and the door of it. Such ware as is made within, such,
and no other, can come out.
Leighton
The Chinese have a saying, that an unlucky word dropped from
the tongue, cannot be brought back again by a coach and six
horses.
Goldsmith
A wound from the tongue is worse than a wound from a sword; for
the latter affects only the body, the former the spirit.
Pythagoras
The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man six
feet high.
Japanese proverb
A tart temper never mellows with age; and a sharp tongue is the
only edged tool that grows keener and sharper with constant
use.
Washington Irving
We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life
enables us to disregard them.
Cato
If wisdom's ways you widely seek, five things observe with
care: of whom you speak, to whom you speak, and how, and when
and where.
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