Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

- generally attributed to Abraham Lincoln

Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.

- Isaac Asimov

A timid question will always receive a confident answer.

- Henry Lytton Bulwer

On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, nor talk at large of your principles among the multitude, but act on your principles. For instance, at a banquet do not say how one ought to eat, but eat as you ought. Remember that Socrates had so completely got rid of the thought of display that when men came and wanted an introduction to philosophers he took them to be introduced; so patient of neglect was he. And if a discussion arise among the multitude on some principle, keep silent for the most part; for you are in great danger of blurting out some undigested thought. And when someone says to you, “You know nothing,” and you do not let it provoke you, then you know that you are really on the right road. For sheep do not bring grass to their shepherds and show them how much they have eaten, but they digest their fodder and then produce it in the form of wool and milk. Do the same yourself; instead of displaying your principles to the multitude, show them the results of the principles you have digested.

- The Manual of Epictetus - #46

10/30/99:

Perhaps my strong inclination to share new concepts with other people really comes from a desire to understand that concept more fully myself. Unless I have another viable opinion to consider, I have no way of testing whether my grasp of the concept is reasonable - since it is impossible for one to be unbiased about one’s own opinions.