Ali ibn Abi Talib Quotes

The voice of experience keeps its mouth shut.

The more you know the less you need to say.

To know your limitations is the hallmark of a wise person.

The well-ordered mind knows the value, no less than the charm, of reticence. The fruit of the tree of knowledge ... falls ripe from its stem; but those who have eaten with sobriety find no need to discuss the processes of digestion.

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual now-a-days to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it.

One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.

It ain't a bad plan to keep still occasionally even when you know what you're talking about.

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.

Don't give your advice before you are called upon.

Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own.

He that hath knowledge spareth his words.

Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young.

I know things but I shut my mouth.

An elder statesman is somebody old enough to know his own mind and keep quiet about it.

There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.

Sometimes, I get so annoyed when other people brag. And sometimes, I know that I'm better than that or I've got something better in the works; I don't say anything. I just say, 'Really? That's great.'

Sometimes you can tell a wise person not only by what he says but also by what he doesn't say. Remember, it is much better to say little than to say too much and regret it later.

Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one.

I know to shut up when I don't know what I'm talking about.

Everybody has said or done the wrong thing and regretted it later, but at the time, you really couldn't help it! As you get older, you're more guarded, but that's a really tough process of learning, to be brutally honest, about some things and keeping your mouth shut about others.

Tis better to sit there and look the fool, than to open your mouth and prove it.

A man of virtue, judgment, and prudence speaks not until there is silence.