Take good care of your final word. If your final say will hunt you in day's ahead, then hold back the words, and let silence speak.

Observe the behavior of the butterfly, and chase no one, for they will only elude you.

to say nothing through fear that taking the matter up would be yielding to temptation would itself be to yield to temptation.

The thing to do when one feels sure that he has said or done the right thing and is condemned, is to stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will show it.

This is how philosophers should salute each other: ‘Take your time.

Be slow of tongue and quick of eye.

Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.

Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise it in case you travel
some day to the African desert. And, if you should come upon this spot, please
do not hurry on. Wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man
appears who laughs, who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions,
you will know who he is. If this should happen, please comfort me. Send me
word that he has come back.

Observe Nature, study her laws, and obey them in your speaking.

My experience with them, as well as other events in my life, convince me that the thing to do, when one feels sure that he has said or done the right thing, and is condemned, is to stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will show it.

Memorize a simple strategy: Don’t jump to speak, ask questions and listen, watch your anger thermometer and keep the temperature down.

Do not speak unless you can improve on the silence.

You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find you.

Things go much better if you slow them down. Give yourself — and the other person — the gift of time: time to take a breath or two, figure out what the other person is really saying, allow the first waves of fight-or-flight reactions to pass through your body, and recognize and restrain impulsive words and actions that you’ll regret later. Those extra seconds before you speak help others feel less like they’re on the receiving end of a rat-a-tat-tat barrage of words and emotional intensity. And the extra seconds give them time to reflect and be less hijacked themselves.