Dionysius the Elder Quotes

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

You can't know too much, but you can say too much.

I have noticed that nothing that I never said ever did me any harm.

It illustrates vividly my incapacity of knowing when to be silent and when to speak.

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.

Never miss an opportunity to shut up.

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

If you keep your mouth shut you will never put your foot in it.

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

There is a time to speak and a time to listen, and sometimes people need to shut up.

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

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

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.

It's very important in life to know when to shut up. You should not be afraid of silence.

You know, I have found out in the course of a long public life that the things I did not say never hurt me.

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

You can't always say what you'd like to say.

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

I've learned I'm not lying by not saying anything, so I just don't say it anymore.

No politician has ever been defeated by a speech he didn’t give.

If you don't say anything, you can't be called upon to repeat it.

In politics you'll never get into trouble by not saying too much.