Silence, Guarded Speech

Wise men are silent.
Silence is often more eloquent than words.
Be not hasty with your tongue.
If words are silver, silence is gold.
Not all that is known should be said.


Silence is a wise thing, but they who observe it are few.
When the mind becomes large speech becomes little.
Restrain your tongue from saying anything but what is good.
An unguarded word may do you great harm.


A man who talks much is open to much blame.
The most faulty of men are they that are most loquacious in matters which do not concern them.
To guard his tongue is one of the best traits in a man's character.
Man is saved from much evil if he guard his tongue.


The tongue is a lion which must be chained, and a sharp sword which must be sheathed.
Nothing on earth is so deserving of a long imprisonment as the tongue.
Beware of saying anything of which you may be ashamed.
It is better to regret a thing which you did not say than a thing which you did say.


A slip of the foot is safer than a slip of the tongue.
A false step may break a bone which can be set, but a slip of the tongue cannot be undone.
A thrust of the tongue is sharper than the thrust of a lance.
A word may cause much trouble, destroy a home, or open a grave.
A great tree grows out of a small seed.


The difference between loquacity and silence is like the difference between the noisy frog and the silent whale.
Wisdom is made up of ten parts—nine of which are silence, and the tenth is brevity of language.


A man conceals his ignorance by his silence.
He who says what he should not say, will have to hear what he would not like to hear.
He who talks much does little.
What is said at night the day blots out.

Live a life that matters

Ready or not,
someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises,
no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected,
whether treasured or forgotten,
will pass to someone else.

Your wealth,
fame and temporal power
will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned
or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations,
and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans,
and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses
that once seemed so important
will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from,
or on what side of the tracks you lived,
at the end.

It won't matter whether
you were beautiful or brilliant

Even your gender and skin colour
will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought,
but what you built;
not what you got,
but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success,
but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned,
but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity,
compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,
empowered or encouraged others
to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence,
but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories,
but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered,
by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

By Michael Josephson