Silence Is Better Than Unmeaning Words

Attributed to Pythagoras in the ancient tradition, this aphorism is consistent with the disciplined silence he enforced at his school in Croton, where new initiates went years without speaking. No authentic writings by Pythagoras survive; sayings attributed to him were preserved by later authors including Diogenes Laertius, Iamblichus, and Porphyry, all writing five or more centuries after his death in the late 5th century BC, making individual attributions uncertain.