No one cares to speak to an unwilling listener.

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds; and I very rarely change it.

When there is silence one finds the anchor of the universe within oneself.

Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.

Never miss a good chance to shut up.

An inability to stay quiet . . . is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind.

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.

A leader who does not take advice is not a leader.

Understanding a question is half an answer.

If one but tell a thing well, it moves on with undying voice, and over the fruitful earth and across the sea goes the bright gleam of noble deeds ever unquenchable.

Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues.

We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening a mob with the news that grass is green.

It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason.

Everything you say should be true but not everything true should be said.

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.

Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.