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About this quote

What does it mean?
Silence protects one from error but also prevents the chance to be correct.
In plain terms
Staying silent avoids mistakes but stops you from sharing true insights.
What can you take from it?
Risk speaking to be right, even if it risks being wrong.

Where it applies

  • debate
  • decision making
  • public speaking

Putting it to work

  • share ideas despite fear of error
  • speak in meetings

Questions to consider

  • When is it better to speak up?
  • What do you gain by staying quiet?

Another view

Sometimes silence is the wiser choice to avoid unnecessary conflict.

More from Igor Stravinsky

  1. 'Afterwards, after the concert, I heard them say: 'Too much noise'. And I wanted to ask: 'Where, exactly?''

    Permalink to quote #13
  2. 'Harpists spend 90% of their time tuning their harps and 10% playing out of tune.'

    Permalink to quote #15
  3. 'Doomed to total failure in a deaf world of ignorance and indifference, he inexorably kept on cutting out his diamonds, his dazzling diamonds, of whose mines h…

    Permalink to quote #12

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