In How to seem smarter than you really are Al Bundy said:
Now, as I’m sure many of you know, the quote is actually something like “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
I did a quick search and I’m seeing this quote attributed to both Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, among others. Who actually said this?
I have always heard this attributed Mark Twain, over the last 40 years, and never to anyone else. I have a dictionary of quotes but it isn’t listed so I can’t offer an authorative source.
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. – Bible, ‘Proverbs’ 17:28.
This reanimated zombie thread has some relevant points…
Edited thread title to indicate quote.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
The quote in question does not talk about someone keeping quiet and appearing wise, it talks about someone keeping quiet and being thought a fool.
And the biblical quote does not mention speaking and thus confirming foolishness.
So, it’s only half the quote, the sense of that half is almost the reverse of the quote in question and the element of wry humour is also missing.
The basic quote is only found from 1907 in print. It’s certainly not Mark Twain, nor Lincoln.
The origin is probably no earlier than the late 1800s.
15 years later…
I was wondering where ‘It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt’ came from. Since I found this thread, and since I seem to have found an answer that fits with samclem’s post, I’ll post what I found.
The earliest known appearance of the adage discovered by QI occurred in a book titled “Mrs. Goose, Her Book” by Maurice Switzer. The publication date was 1907 and the copyright notice was 1906. The book was primarily filled with clever nonsense verse, and the phrasing in this early version was slightly different:5
It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.
QI thinks that Maurice Switzer is currently the top choice for coiner of the expression though future data may reveal alternative claimants.
The Book of Job has (to pick a translation) “If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!”
Boethius has ‘iam tandem," inquit, “intellegis me esse philosophum?” tum ille nimium mordaciter: “intellexeram,” inquit, "si tacuisses.’
Plus all the examples above, prove there are plenty of versions of this ancient maxim.