Quote #16

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.

More from Cato the Elder

  1. Grasp the subject, the words will follow.
  2. I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than why I have one.
  3. From lightest words sometimes the direst quarrel springs.
  4. In conversation avoid the extremes of forwardness and reserve.
  5. Don't promise twice what you can do at once.
  6. In doing nothing men learn to do evil.
  7. Do not expect good from another's death.
  8. It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.

All Cato the Elder quotes