The tongue talks at the head's cost.
Meaning: Reckless speech brings consequences the speaker must bear, not those who merely listen.
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
- 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…
- He that tells his wife news is but newly married. — A husband who shares secrets with his wife hasn't yet learned discretion is essential to…
- Wit ill applied is a dangerous weapon. — Clever words wielded carelessly inflict harm deeper than intended, making intelligence wi…
From our tongue twisters
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. — Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
- خالد خلّى خلال خاله في الخلاء. (Khālid khallā khalāl khālih fī al-khalāʾ.) — A rapid-fire 'kh' (خ) drill — the throaty fricative that non-Arabic speakers find uniquel…
- غاب الغيم وغابت غابة الغاب. (Ghāb al-ghaym wa ghābat ghābat al-ghāb.) — An unbroken sequence of 'gh' (غ) — a voiced uvular fricative that drills the back of the…