“IT IS very necessary that the tongue be well-bridled and regulated because we are all much inclined to let it run on upon those things which are most pleasing to the senses.

“Much speaking springs ordinarily from pride. We persuade ourselves that we know a great deal; we take delight in our own conceits, and endeavor by needless repetitions to impress them on the minds of others, that we may exercise a mastery over them, as though they needed instruction from us.

“It is not possible to express in few words the many evils which arise from overmuch speaking.

“Talkativeness is the mother of sloth, the sign of ignorance and folly, the door of slander, the minister of falsehood, the destroyer of fervent devotion. A multitude of words adds strength to evil passions, by which again the tongue is the more easily led on to indiscreet talking.”

—  Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat, 1589

Please follow and like us: