“It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”

—  Mark Twain

Cited as an example of "What Mark Twain Didn't Say" in Mark Twain by Geoffrey C. Ward, et al.
Misattributed
Variant: It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update March 31, 2026. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt." by Mark Twain?
Mark Twain photo
Mark Twain637
American author and humorist 1835–1910

Related quotes

Vince Flynn photo

“Have you ever heard the phrase, it is better to keep your mouth closed and have people wonder if you are stupid than open it and remove all doubt? (Hakim al Harbi)”

Vince Flynn book Pursuit of Honor

Source: Pursuit of Honor

Margaret Atwood photo

“All you have to do, I tell myself, is keep your mouth shut and look stupid. It shouldn't be that hard.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Abraham Lincoln photo

“Tis better people think you a fool, then open your mouth and erase all doubt.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Variously attributed to Lincoln, Elbert Hubbard, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin and Socrates
Misattributed
Variant: It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

Winston S. Churchill photo

“Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“Never miss a chance… to keep your mouth shut.”

Robert Newton Peck book A Day No Pigs Would Die

Source: A Day No Pigs Would Die

Patrick Rothfuss photo

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

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

William H. Macy photo

“I think it's possible to be too quick-witted, too smart to be an actor. You have to turn off a lot of your brain, in a way. When you see a fellow actor just missing it, it's hard to keep your mouth shut, but you have to. Or see a director so stupid he couldn't direct vomit into a paper bag. And he's in charge, and it's really hard to keep your mouth shut.”

William H. Macy (1950) American actor, screenwriter, teacher and director in theater, film and television

Interview in The Guardian (2011)

G. K. Chesterton photo

“An open mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth. Mouths and minds were made to shut; they were made to open only in order to shut.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

Original quote:
For my friend said that he opened his intellect as the sun opens the fans of a palm tree, opening for opening's sake, opening infinitely for ever. But I said that I opened my intellect as I opened my mouth, in order to shut it again on something solid. I was doing it at the moment. And as I truly pointed out, it would look uncommonly silly if I went on opening my mouth infinitely, for ever and ever.
The Extraordinary Cabman, one of many essays collected in Tremendous Trifles (1909)
Misattributed

David Mamet photo

“You are a shithead, Williamson. If you can't think on your feet you oughta keep your mouth shut.”

David Mamet Glengarry Glen Ross

Glengarry Glen Ross (1993), Shelley Levene

Related topics