Plutarch writes
Before you speak, reflect on the following
He proceeds to ask
if words are neither useful to the speaker, nor necessary for the hearer, nor contain any pleasure or charm, why are they spoken?
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Random thoughts 
Personally, I like to be quiet.
I actually do not like to talk, & would rather just listen.
Keyboards are great for me.
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I try a balance of both and lately been trying to talk less 🙂
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I talk too much.
BUT: I would also include “keyboarding” as part of talking, but at least typing requires a couple of more steps than just opening one’s maw and emitting the laisse-bon-mots.
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Well said my friend
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Shhh! Be quiet! I’m reading.
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I am quiet, it’s thoughts coming outta my ears
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Plutarch’s question appears (erroneously) to presuppose a thinker of thoughts. Thoughts occur due to sense contacts and conditioning; it’s more a question of chance than necessity. 🙂
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Plutarch’s questions come at the end of a long discourse on talkativeness and he gives examples of people who for their inability to control their tongues lost their lives. He is, by asking his questions, trying to propose a cure for a malady.
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So the Buddhistic/Advaitan remedy would be to realise, as I suggested, that “thoughts occur due to sense contacts and conditioning”. With that realisation comes a dissociation with inner verbalisations and a lessening of the impulse to vocalise them. What was Plutarch’s cure, Mak?
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The cure is death, or alcoholic coma. I’ve tested this theory.
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“In some situations, if you say nothing, you are called dull; if you talk, you are thought impertinent and arrogant. It is hard to know what to do in this case. The question seems to be, whether your vanity or your prudence predominates.”
― William Hazlitt
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That is the million dollar question
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Alcohol makes the lips loose or so I hear. Death definitely is a good cure
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He says to be like Zeno who cut off his tongue so as not to betray his friends or the wife who killed herself when she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. That is to say no cure, I guess.
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So far then, it’s down to Pink’s Brandy or my interminable years of meditation.
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I think so and the answer will depend on our temperament
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I see this as having the wisdom to know when speaking up is necessary, towards a worthwhile purpose. As well as understanding what kind of shit storm you may jump into by speaking words that might be best left unsaid.
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Yes indeed.
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“Silence is golden.”
“Loose lips, sink ships.”
“He who talks most, says the least.”
“Good listeners are hard to find.”
Talkaholics are often associated with narcissism and neuroticism. Such individuals hold their own thoughts in high esteem while placing little value on the thoughts of others. This compulsive behavior can also be aggressively tactical, intentionally done to drown-out contradictory ideas or persons perceived as competitors.
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I’ve noticed these type of people are very good at interrupting you as well.
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Yes, indeed.
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“I have always regretted my speech, not silence” says Simonides
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A lesson sorely needed.
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It died with common sense
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I always loved this quote:
Sounds like something Mark Twain would have said. It is advice I should apply to myself at times.
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I have tried to not say anything I would want to withdraw
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As a government press officer I learned the value of minimalism. Later, working for the health service I was responding (on the phone) to a Daily Telegraph reporter who lived near my parents. He told them I was very good because he couldn’t get a useful word out of me.
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If, “I was very good because he couldn’t get a useful word out of me.” can be said of me, I will be very happy
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[…] While the men engage in a brutal physical competition which often leaves them hurt (sometimes for life), the women are divided into two separate groups, one supporting each of the competitors. They’re expected to chant and do dances that on occasion even resemble sex acts. During this process it’s required they be scantily clad, further enforcing their servile role in the tribal structure. The more troubling aspect of these customs regards age. Very young teens are encouraged, one could even say indoctrinated, into embracing their own socio-cultural subservience by taking part in this activity. This means we’re talking about a “civilization” that is irredeemably inferior to our own and incompatible with our values. Unless I tell you I’m not describing Sub-Saharan Africa, but Texas. And the brutal competition is football; and the scantily clad women are cheerleaders. How does it all look now? I can see you smiling there in the corner, Makagutu! […]
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This is really popular lately, a doctor had published it on Facebook.
I am usually quiet, but I think too much instead of talking unnecessary things.
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That’s a good thing to do. To listen twice as much as you talk
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