
Interview in The Guardian (2011)
Source: The Handmaid's Tale
Interview in The Guardian (2011)
2 March 1944
(1942 - 1944)
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
“It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”
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.
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
“Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut!”
From a set of "rules for life" sent to publisher Charles Scribner IV; quoted in Scribner's memoir In the Company of Writers (New York: Scribner, 1991), p. 64 https://books.google.com/books?id=yYdHGtlgIsYC&pg=PA64&dq=hemingway+%22rules+for+life%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-zvyfgNDMAhUJ_mMKHU6zDrYQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=%20%22rules%20for%20life%22&f=false
“If you only ever read one book in your life… I highly recommend you keep your mouth shut.”
Attention Scum! (2001), How To Live (2005)
“You are a shithead, Williamson. If you can't think on your feet you oughta keep your mouth shut.”
Glengarry Glen Ross (1993), Shelley Levene
“Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut.”