J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

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

It is easier not to speak a word at all than to speak more words than we should.

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

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

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.

Nothing is sometimes the right thing to say.

Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.

There is no diplomacy like silence.

I have often regretted having spoken, never having kept silent.

Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something.

Knowing when to speak up and when to shut up will get you very far not only in business, but in life.

Silence is one great art of conversation. He is not a fool who knows when to hold his tongue; and a person may gain credit for sense, eloquence, wit, who merely says nothing to lessen the opinion which others have of these qualities in themselves.

Nothing is often a good thing to do and always a good thing to say.

Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is invariably more important than opening it at the right time.

If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Tact is the unsaid part of what you think.

Now the thing is not to get into unnecessary quarrels by talking too much and not to indicate any weakness by talking too much; let our actions speak for themselves.

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

It doesn't pay to say too much when you are mad enough to choke. For the word that stings the deepest is the word that is never spoke, Let the other fellow wrangle till the storm has blown away, then he'll do a heap of thinking about the things you didn't say.

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

One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.

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.

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