#circumspection — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Horace

To go on with my advice (that is, supposing
You need advice from me): Be careful about
The things you say and the people to whom you say them.
Avoid the man who asks too many questions.
No question but he’ll be a teller of tales;
An ear that eager can’t keep a secret for long,
And once a word slips out it won’t come back.
 
[Protinus ut moneam (si quid monitoris eges tu)
quid de quoque viro et cui dicas, saepe videto,
percontatorem fugito: nam garrulus idem est,
nec retinent patulae commissa fideliter aures,
et semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 18 “To Lollius,” l. 67ff (1.18.67-71) (20 BC) [tr. Ferry (2001)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/20802/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #caution #circumspection #confidence #confidentiality #discretion #gossip #hearsay #informer #prattle #prudence #secrecy #secret #tattle #trustworthiness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rules on composition: it produces vigilance rather than elevation, rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often escapes miscarriages but seldom reaches either power or honor. It quenches that ardor of enterprise by which every thing is done that can claim praise or admiration; and represses that generous temerity which often fails and often succeeds. Rules may obviate faults, but can never confer beauties; and prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/2133/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #caution #circumspection #commonsense #discretion #happiness #prudence #safety #shrewdness #takingcare #wariness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rules on composition: it produces vigilance rather than elevation, rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often escapes miscarriages but seldom reaches either power or honor. It quenches that ardor of enterprise by which every thing is done that can claim praise or admiration; and represses that generous temerity which often fails and often succeeds. Rules may obviate faults, but can never confer beauties; and prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/2133/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #caution #circumspection #commonsense #discretion #happiness #prudence #safety #shrewdness #takingcare #wariness