I couldn’t force myself to select only a portion of today’s entry from Leo Tolstoy (please buy the book)…
After a long conversation, stop and try to remember what you have just discussed. Don’t be surprised if many things, sometimes even everything you have discussed, were meaningless, empty, and trivial, and sometimes even bad.
A stupid person should keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a stupid person.
—MUSLIH-UD-DIN SAADI
Only speak when your words are better than your silence.
—ARABIC PROVERB
For every time you regret that you did not say something, you will regret a hundred times that you did not keep your silence.
Kind people are never involved in arguments, and those who like to argue are never kind. Truthful words are not always pleasant, and pleasant words are not necessarily truthful.
—LAO-TZU
If you want to be a clever person, you have to learn how to ask cleverly, how to listen attentively, how to respond quietly, and how to stop talking when there is nothing more to say.
Many stupid things are uttered by people whose only motivation is to say something original.
—VOLTAIRE
If you have time to think before you start talking, think, Is it necessary to speak? Will what I have to say harm anyone?
— A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World’s Sacred Texts by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Peter Sekirin)