Don’t say things. What you are stands over you a while, and thunders so that I cannot hear
what you say to the contrary.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1876
Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both.
—John Holmes, 1927
I like business because it rewards deeds and not words.
—William Feather, 1927
It is a common delusion that you make things better by talking about them.
—Rose Macaulay, 1926
I know of only one bird, the parrot, that talks; and it can't fly very high.
—Wilbur Wright, 1908
4
***
Long talk makes short days.
—French proverb
But far more numerous was the herd of such,
Who think too little and who talk too much.
—John Dryden, 1681
The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.
—Voltaire, 1738
A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other
people's patience.
—John Updike, 1965
Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much.
—John Wayne
5
Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.
—Dorothy Sarnoff, 1970
The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having
the two as close together as possible.
—George Burns
6
4
The aviation pioneer has reportedly made this statement at a banquet, declining an invitation to
give a talk. This was apparently a paraphrase of an earlier maxim by Sakya Pandita, but I like it
much more than the original.
5
As quoted, without a date, in many sources, including J. Bartlett’s collection.
6
Possibly based on a more succinct German proverb (sometimes attributed to Martin Luther), “The
fewer the words, the better the prayer”.
94
On Speech and Silence, Truth and Lies
what you say to the contrary.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1876
Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both.
—John Holmes, 1927
I like business because it rewards deeds and not words.
—William Feather, 1927
It is a common delusion that you make things better by talking about them.
—Rose Macaulay, 1926
I know of only one bird, the parrot, that talks; and it can't fly very high.
—Wilbur Wright, 1908
4
***
Long talk makes short days.
—French proverb
But far more numerous was the herd of such,
Who think too little and who talk too much.
—John Dryden, 1681
The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.
—Voltaire, 1738
A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other
people's patience.
—John Updike, 1965
Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much.
—John Wayne
5
Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.
—Dorothy Sarnoff, 1970
The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having
the two as close together as possible.
—George Burns
6
4
The aviation pioneer has reportedly made this statement at a banquet, declining an invitation to
give a talk. This was apparently a paraphrase of an earlier maxim by Sakya Pandita, but I like it
much more than the original.
5
As quoted, without a date, in many sources, including J. Bartlett’s collection.
6
Possibly based on a more succinct German proverb (sometimes attributed to Martin Luther), “The
fewer the words, the better the prayer”.
94
On Speech and Silence, Truth and Lies