ProverbCommunication
English origin
English originWounds 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, German, Italian, Russian, and Arabic
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)
Italian: Ne uccide più la lingua che la spada (literally: The tongue kills more than the sword)
Russian: Слово не стрела, а пуще стрелы разит (Slovo ne strela, a pushche strely razit) (literally: A word isn't an arrow, but strikes harder than one)
Arabic: جراحات السنان لها التئام، ولا يلتأم ما جرح اللسان (Jirāḥāt as-sinān lahā iltiʾām, wa-lā yaltaʾim mā jaraḥa al-lisān) (literally: Spear wounds heal; what the tongue wounds never does)
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