When you have spoken the word, it reigns over you. When it is unspoken you reign over it. – Arabic Proverb
To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming. – English Proverb
The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing. – Anon.
Its a damn shame we have this immediate ticking off in the mind about how people sound. On the other hand, how many people really want to be operated upon by a surgeon who talks broad cockney? – Eileen Aitkins
Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine. – Amos Bronson Alcott
Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being. – Hannah Arendt
It is all right to hold a conversation but you should let go of it now and then. – Richard Armour
Speech of yourself ought to be seldom and well chosen. – Francis Bacon
The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other peoples minds. – Walter Bagehot
The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts working the minute youre born and never stops working until you get up to speak in public. – Patricia Ann Ball
The moment a man talks to his fellows he begins to lie. – Hilaire Belloc
Its better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that youre stupid than to open it and remove all doubt. – Rami Belson
The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword: but not so many as have fallen by the tongue. Ecclesiasticus 28:17 –18 – Bible
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Colossians 4:6 – Bible
When a man gets talking about himself, he seldom fails to be eloquent and often reaches the sublime. – Josh Billings
Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches. – Otto von Bismarck
We forget that we are all dead men conversing with dead men. – Jorge Luis Borges
The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is perfectly well pleased with you. – Jean De La Bruyere
The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another mans observation, not overturning it. – Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
