Keep your tongue within your teeth.
Meaning: Silence prevents harm; unspoken words cannot wound or betray you.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Communication
- The tongue's not steel, yet it cuts. — Words inflict wounds as deep as any blade, leaving scars that heal far more slowly.
- The tongue talks at the head's cost. — Reckless speech brings consequences the speaker must bear, not those who merely listen.
- Who has not a good tongue, ought to have good hands. — Lacking eloquence in speech, one must compensate through skilled physical labor or useful…
- That is true which all men say. — What everyone believes requires no individual verification; consensus substitutes for per…
- Speak the truth and shame the devil. — Truth-telling defeats deception by exposing falsehood's powerlessness against honest word…
- Any flat can talk of change of weather. — Even the most ordinary person can observe and comment on obvious, visible phenomena occur…
From our false friends
- Sensible — Actually means 'sensitive'. For sensible/level-headed, say raisonnable.
- Librairie — Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Constipado — Actually means 'having a head cold'. Estoy constipado = I have a cold.