Wounds may heal, but not those made by ill words.
Meaning: Physical injuries fade while harsh speech leaves permanent emotional scars impossible to fully repair.
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.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and German
- French: Un coup de langue est pire qu'un coup de lance (literally: A blow of the tongue is worse than a blow of the lance)
- Spanish: Sanan llagas, y no malas palabras (literally: Wounds heal, but not ill words)
- German: Ein böses Wort verwundet mehr als ein scharfes Schwert (literally: An evil word wounds more than a sharp sword)
More proverbs about Communication
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- Believe well and have well. — Right conduct and virtuous living naturally produce good outcomes and contentment in life.
- Drunken folk often speak truth. — Intoxication dissolves social filters, allowing suppressed honesty to surface uncensored.
- He lies like an epitaph. — Flattery inscribed on tombstones distorts truth, so excessive praise proves fundamentally…
- One ill word asketh another. — Harsh speech begets harsh response, creating cycles of escalating conflict rather than re…
- Jesting lies bring serious sorrows. — Careless humor that distorts truth erodes trust and eventually causes genuine pain to rel…
From our tongue twisters
- 경찰청 철창살은 외철창살이고 검찰청 철창살도 외철창살이다. (Gyeongchalcheong cheolchangsal eun oe cheolchangsal igo, geomchalcheong cheolchangsal do oe cheolchangsal ida.) — A 'cheong/cheol/chal' onslaught — Korean's aspirated stops and affricates in relentless s…
- Strč prst skrz krk. — Four words, zero vowels — the most concentrated consonant cluster challenge in any Europe…
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…