Does it seem sometimes that you are always the one to break an embarrassing silence — and always by saying something more embarrassing than the silence? – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood. – Karl Popper, Unended Quest

Talking is like playing on the harp; there is as much in laying the hands on the strings to stop their vibration as in twanging them to bring out their music. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Watch your own speech, and notice how it is guided by your less conscious purposes… – George Eliot, “Borne Along by the Tide,” The Mill on the Floss, 1860