John Ploughman's Talk

Continued from Wednesday...

On Gossips: What a pity there is not a tax upon words, and if lies paid double, the government might pay off the National Debt. As a snowball grows by rolling, so does a story. They who talk much lie much. Silence seldom makes mischief. Still waters are the deepest; but the shallowest brooks brawl the most; this shows how plentiful fools must be. Talking comes by nature, but it needs a good deal of training to learn to be quiet; If we must talk, at least let us be free from slander. If all men's sins were divided into two bundles, half of them would be sins of the tongue. "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." Think much, but say little: be quick to work and slow to talk; and, above all, ask the great Lord to set a watch over your lips.

Taken from John Ploughman's Talk