“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”

— Aristotle

Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statesmen (1898), p. 370 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435065322687?urlappend=%3Bseq=458: "If you would escape moral and physical assassination, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing—court obscurity, for only in oblivion does safety lie." Other versions of the saying were repeated in several of Hubbard's later writings.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 14, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing." by Aristotle?

Aristotle230

Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder o… -384–-321 BC

Related quotes

“To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”

Fred Shero (1925–1990) Former ice hockey player and coach

Glenn
Liebman
Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners
1996
70, 113 & 229
Contemporary Books
0-8092-3351-7

“Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

“The only way to avoid becoming a metaphysician is to say nothing.”

Edwin Arthur Burtt (1892–1989) American philosopher

Often misquoted or paraphrased as "The only way to avoid metaphysics is to say nothing." Cf. on the next page, "you cannot avoid metaphysics".
Source: The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1925), p. 224

“Do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing, and you'll never be criticized.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

John North Willys (as reprinted in Elbert Hubbard's Selected Writings, Part 2 (1998), pp. 331–337, Roycrofters, 1922).
Pamphlets
Source: Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Vol. 3: American Statesmen

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”

Denis Waitley (1933) American writer