Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

A close form is printed in Maurice Switzer’s Mrs. Goose, Her Book (1907), p. 29, according to Quote Investigator. Switzer is its leading candidate for originator, not a proved inventor of every later version. Quote Investigator found a Lincoln attribution in Golden Book Magazine in November 1931 and a Twain attribution in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on 29 May 1953. The familiar ‘appear stupid’ form was included in the unsourced Twain collection Mark Twain: Wit and Wisecracks (1961), p. 18. The fifteen held English Twain works were searched for ‘remain silent’ near ‘doubt’, ‘mouth shut’ near ‘doubt’, and ‘thought a fool’ near ‘doubt’; no matching maxim was found. The original Switzer page and the later newspaper issues were not inspected here: these dates and texts rest on Quote Investigator’s research, not a fresh inspection of the scans.

1. 1907Earliest found · credited to Maurice SwitzerSwitzer’s Mrs. Goose, Her Book prints a close version; its copyright notice is dated 1906, not proof of a separate 1906 printing.It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.Maurice Switzer, Mrs. Goose, Her Book (New York: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1907), p. 29. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
2. November 1931Credited to Abraham LincolnGolden Book Magazine assigns the maxim to Abraham Lincoln, decades after his death.Golden Book Magazine, vol. 14 (November 1931), p. 306. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
3. 29 May 1953Credited to Mark TwainJane Gale attributes a mouth-shut version to Mark Twain; this is the earliest Twain credit located by Quote Investigator.Jane Gale, It’s Always Same Answer, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 29 May 1953, p. 13, column 3. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
4. 1961Reworded · credited to Mark TwainAn unsourced collection prints the familiar ‘appear stupid’ version as Twain’s.Doris Benardete (ed.), Mark Twain: Wit and Wisecracks (White Plains, New York: Peter Pauper Press, 1961), p. 18. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source

Often assigned to Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln as advice on conversation. The earliest close wording located by Quote Investigator is in Maurice Switzer’s comic book Mrs. Goose, Her Book, published in 1907 with a 1906 copyright notice; the Twain connection appears much later.

Silence can leave one’s foolishness uncertain; speaking can prove it. The punchline turns familiar praise of discretion into a joke about avoiding exposure.

Reason, Wisdom

• When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.
• cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
• Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.
• Two intelligent people cannot fall in love; true love needs one idiot. (not found) Fyodor Dostoevsky
• In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards.

• quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/17/remain-silent

“Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” Attributed to Mark Twain. No. The earliest close version located is in Maurice Switzer’s 1907 book; he is the leading candidate, not a certain inventor. No reliable Twain source is known. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/better-to-keep-your-mouth-shut/ (checked 28 October 2026).

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