“Take care never to speak what you have not weighed and pondered beforehand; nor interject your own words on the spur of the moment and in the midst of another’s; for you must listen and converse in turn, with set times for speech and for silence.”

“The law of silence: Speak little. Say only what you must. Speak only when necessary. Your oratory should be deeds, not words. You accomplish: let others talk.”

“It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white. Speech is silver but silence is golden.”

“Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart. ”

“From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying:
'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.”

“Be careful what you wish for. You never know who will be listening.”

“Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back.”

“It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak the words that matter.”

“What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence.”

“As you must weigh and choose between your love
and filial duty, which will turn the scale?
She put aside all vows of love and troth—
a child first pays the debts of birth and care.”