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He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
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“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”

Proverbs

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Source
King James Bible — Proverbs 18:13
Date
1611
English wording
King James Version translation committees · from Biblical Hebrew / Aramaic / Koine Greek
Meaning

Meaning of “He that answereth a matter before he heareth…”

Answering before listening mistakes speed for competence; understanding requires enough restraint to hear the matter before judging it.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Proverbs 18:13 in the King James Version.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

AngerCalmCommunicationDecisionDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyFailureHumilityLifeLife LessonsPatiencePeaceSelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortUnderstandingWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellListeningMistakes
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He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
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“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.”

Sun Tzu · The Art of War — Attack by Stratagem · c. 5th century BCE
Meaning & context

Judgment includes restraint: choosing the wrong contest can be as damaging as fighting badly once the contest begins.

Source details

The Art of War, Chapter III “Attack by Stratagem,” section 17, Lionel Giles translation (1910), printed page 24 / scan leaf 80 in the original Giles edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight” is the first of five listed military essentials for victory; it remains battlefield-strategy judgment rather than a context-free maxim about every disagreement.

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For of course rashness is the note of youth, prudence of old age.
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“For of course rashness is the note of youth, prudence of old age.”

Cicero · Cato on Old Age · 44 BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Marcus Cato (Cato the Elder)
Meaning & context

The contrast assigns different characteristic strengths to stages of life, valuing experience for the restraint and judgment it can develop.

Source details

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation.

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When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.
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“When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.”

Thomas Jefferson · Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825 · 1825
Meaning & context

Jefferson’s practical rule inserts a deliberate delay between anger and speech, giving judgment time to return before emotion becomes an irreversible response.

Source details

Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825, Founders Online / National Archives. The sentence is item 10 in a short list of “canons of conduct” sent to his namesake relative; the archive currently labels the transcription an Early Access document rather than a final authoritative edition.

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If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same.
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“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same.”

Rudyard Kipling · If— · 1910
Meaning & context

Kipling’s speaker recommends maintaining steadiness toward both success and failure rather than allowing either outcome to determine one’s character or judgment.

Source details

“If—,” in Rewards and Fairies, Project Gutenberg #556. The poem presents a period ideal of masculine self-command through a sequence of conditional tests; the stored lines are literary and moral rhetoric, not a requirement to suppress normal emotion.

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