About the Tongue

AUCTIONEER, n. The man who proclaims with a hammer that he has picked a pocket with his tongue.

BATTLE, n. A method of untying with the teeth of a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.

BELLADONNA, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

LECTURER, n. One with his hand in your pocket, his tongue in your ear and his faith in your patience.

LOQUACITY, n. A disorder which renders the sufferer unable to curb his tongue when you wish to talk.

SLANG, n. The grunt of the human hog (_Pignoramus intolerabilis_) with an audible memory. The speech of one who utters with his tongue what he thinks with his ear, and feels the pride of a creator in accomplishing the feat of a parrot. A means (under Providence) of setting up as a wit without a capital of sense.

- The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, US author and satirist

That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. - Shakespeare

The slanderer and the assassin differ only in the weapon they use; with the one it is the dagger, with the other the tongue. The former is worse that the latter, for the last only kills the body, while the other murders the reputation. - Tyron Edwards

Conversation is an exercise of the mind; gossip is merely an exercise of the tongue. - author unknown

The tongue is like a sharp knife. It kills without drawing blood. - Buddha