Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Tongue
A brain is worth little without a tongue.French.
A bridle for the tongue is a necessary piece of furniture.
A good tongue has seldom need to beg attention.
A good tongue is a good weapon.
A long tongue betokens a short hand.Spanish.
A man may hold his tongue in an ill time.
A quiet tongue shows a wise head.
A slip of the foot may be soon recovered but that of the tongue never.
A slip of the tongue.
A smooth tongue is better than smooth locks.Danish.
A still tongue maketh a wise head.
All successful men know how to hold their tongues.Talleyrand.
All tongues are not made of the same flesh.
An unbridled tongue is the worst of diseases.Euripides.
Beware of a fine tongue, ’twill sting mortally.
Better a slip of the foot than of the tongue.French.
Between evil tongues and evil ears there is nothing to choose.Spanish.
Birds are entangled by their feet, men by their tongues.
Confine your tongue lest it confine you.
For a bad tongue scissors.Portuguese.
He cannot speak well who cannot hold his tongue.
He loses least in a quarrel who keeps his tongue in check.Danish.
He must have leave to speak who cannot hold his tongue.
He that knows not how to hold his tongue knows not how to talk.
He who has a bad tongue should have good loins.Italian.
He who holds his tongue does not commit himself.French.
He who holds his tongue saves his head.Turkish.
He who restrains not his tongue shall live in trouble.Ancient Brahmin.
Her tongue steals away all the time from her hands.
His tongue goes always of errands but never speeds.
His tongue is no slander.
I know enough to hold my tongue but not to speak.
Ill tongues ought only to be heard by persons of discretion.
In all contentions put a bridle on your tongue.
It is a gude tongue that says nae ill.
Keep your tongue out of other men’s pies.
Keep your tongue within your teeth.
Let him who is well off hold his tongue.
Let not the tongue utter what the head must pay for.Spanish, Portuguese.
Let not your tongue cut your throat.
Let not your tongue run away with your brains.
Long tongue, short hand.French, Italian.
Man is caught by his tongue and an ox by his horns.Russian.
Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together.L’Estrange.
Much tongue and money go together.
No one ever repented of having held his tongue.Italian.
One may hold one’s tongue in an ill time.
One pair of ears would exhaust a hundred tongues.Italian.
Point the tongue on the anvil of truth.Pindar.
Put a key on your tongue.Modern Greek.
Silken tongue and hempen heart often go together.Danish.
Teach the tongue to say, “I do not know.”Hebrew.
The overlicking (flattering) tongue soon makes a wound.Russian.
The tongue breaketh bone though itself have none.
The tongue can no man tame: it is an unruly member.New Testament.
The tongue turns to an aching tooth.Latin.
The tongue is boneless but it breaks bones.Turkish.
The tongue is not steel yet it cuts.
The tongue is the rudder of our ship.
The tongue is the worst part of a bad servant.Juvenal.
The tongue kills a man and the tongue saves a man.Ashantee (Africa).
The tongue kills quicker than the sword.Turkish.
The tongue of a bad friend cuts more than a knife.Spanish.
The tongue of a fool carves a piece of his heart to all that sit near him.
The tongue of idle persons is never idle.
The tongue slays more than the sword.Turkish.
The tongue speaks wisely when the soul is wise.Homer.
The tongue talks at the head’s cost.
The tongue which is yielding endures, the teeth which are stubborn perish.Chinese.
The tongue wounds more than a lance.French.
The wise hand doth not all the foolish tongue says.
The wise man’s tongue is a shield not a sword.German.
There are some tongues so venomous no innocence escapes them.Fielding.
They are little to be feared whose tongues are their swords.
They say the tongues of dying men
Enforce attention like deep harmony.Shakespeare.
Thistles and thorns prick sore, but evil tongues prick more.Dutch.
Turn your tongue seven times before speaking.
What the heart thinketh the tongue speaketh.
Who can govern his tongue is a strong man.German.
Who has a tongue in his head can go all the world over.Italian.
Who has not a good tongue ought to have good hands.German.
Who knows the tongue is at home everywhere.Dutch.
Who looks for a courtier’s tongue between the teeth of a clown.Fielding.
Who masters his own tongue his bread shall not fail.German.
Whose heart is narrow his tongue is large.Hebrew.
Your tongue runs before your wit.