“"A newspaper man has got to know when to keep his mouth and his mind shut. You might end up dead."
"Isn't that the usual fate of men, Harry?"”

Source: Fourth Mansions (1969), Ch. 8

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Do you have more details about the quote ""A newspaper man has got to know when to keep his mouth and his mind shut. You might end up dead." "Isn't that the usu…" by R. A. Lafferty?
R. A. Lafferty photo
R. A. Lafferty 109
American writer 1914–2002

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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.
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Misattributed

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