Thomas a Kempis Quotes

Why must you speak your thoughts? Silence, if fair words stick in your throat, would serve all our ends better.

I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.

I've really learned to watch what I say.

To be silent is sometimes an art, yet not so great a one as certain people would have us believe, who are wisest they are most silent.

I suppose that people, using themselves and each other so much by words, are at least consistent in attributing wisdom to a still tongue.

It is wise to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.

An Englishman's never so natural as when he's holding his tongue.

Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.

There are two great rules of life: never tell everything at once.

If you're not sure of what to say, don't say anything.

Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.

There is a better thing than the great man who is always speaking, and that is the great man who only speaks when he has a great word to say.

Speak only if it improves upon the silence.

He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak.

It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent.

It is but a small merit to observe silence, but it is a grave fault to speak of matters on which we should be silent.

When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue.

If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.

A sparing tongue is the greatest treasure among men.

The well-ordered mind knows the value, no less than the charm, of reticence. The fruit of the tree of knowledge ... falls ripe from its stem; but those who have eaten with sobriety find no need to discuss the processes of digestion.

Wise is the man who says what needs to be said, but not all that could be said.

I have often repented of speech but hardly ever of silence.