To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.
To speak of oneself means to lay bare one's own soul, expose it like a body to the sun. To lay bare one's own soul is not at all like taking off one's brassiere on a crowded beach!
I'm not one to speak about myself. I like to speak about the people around me.
It's good for the soul to hear yourself as others hear you, and next time maybe, just maybe, you will not talk so much, so loudly, so brilliantly, so charmingly, so utterly shamelessly foolishly.
To speak and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it, write it in the sand near the water's edge.
To think ill of mankind and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.
We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.
If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.
Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.