We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

Diogenes Laertius (Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 7.23) tells it of Zeno of Citium, in Greek “δύο ὦτα ἔχομεν, στόμα δὲ ἕν, ἵνα πλείονα μὲν ἀκούωμεν, ἥττονα δὲ λέγωμεν”. Under Epictetus’s name it is a fragment from the late anthologies: Elizabeth Carter prints it in a group of fragments “ascribed jointly to Epictetus and other Authors”; George Long numbers it CXLII among the fragments Schweighäuser collected “chiefly from Stobaeus, Antonius and Maximus”, warning that some are certainly not Epictetus’s; Hastings Crossley (1903) includes it, noting that his selection includes some of doubtful origin; and W. A. Oldfather’s Loeb edition (1925–28) leaves these gnomological aphorisms out as too doubtful to reproduce. Searched: the Greek and Long texts of the Discourses and Enchiridion in sources/ (“two ears”, “ὦτα”, “tongue”): not found. Not established here: which anthology first credits the saying to Epictetus, and its Greek wording there. The modern wording (‘so that we can listen twice as much as we speak’) circulates under Epictetus’s name on quote sites and in self-help books (Goodreads search, seen 2026-10-23); when it first appeared was not established.

1. 225Earliest found · credited to Zeno of CitiumDiogenes Laertius, in his life of Zeno of Citium (Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 7.23; written in the first half of the third century CE, the exact date unknown, the year here a convention), tells the saying as Zeno’s answer to a talkative youth.The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, Zeno, 7.23; tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb Classical Library, 1925); Greek text on Greek Wikisource, VII.23. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source
2. 1759Credited to Epictetus, jointly with other authorsElizabeth Carter’s English Epictetus prints the saying among the fragments, in a group headed as ascribed jointly to Epictetus and other authors (Wikisource transcribes the edition it dates 1759; the first edition may be earlier, not checked here).Nature hath given Man one Tongue, but two Ears, that we may hear twice as much as we speak.All the Works of Epictetus, Which Are Now Extant, tr. Elizabeth Carter, Fragments (second series, “ascribed jointly to Epictetus and other Authors”), VI. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source
3. 1877Spread · credited to EpictetusGeorge Long translates it as fragment CXLII of the fragments Schweighäuser collected chiefly from Stobaeus, Antonius and Maximus, and warns that some of them are certainly not from Epictetus.Nature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.The Discourses of Epictetus; with the Encheiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (London: George Bell, 1877), Fragments, CXLII. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source
4. 1903Spread · credited to EpictetusHastings Crossley’s popular selection The Golden Sayings of Epictetus prints it as fragment VI of an appendix of “Fragments Attributed to Epictetus”, with a note that the selection includes some of doubtful origin.Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, with the Hymn of Cleanthes, tr. Hastings Crossley (London: Macmillan, 1903; reprinted 1905), Appendix A, fragment VI. Checked in the text of a page scan, not the image. Source
5. 1928Spread · credited to no oneW. A. Oldfather’s Loeb edition omits the aphorisms gathered from Stobaeus and the gnomologies, saying the work of Schenkl, Asmus and Elter has thrown such doubt on them that reproducing them would serve no purpose.Epictetus, the Discourses as reported by Arrian, the Manual, and Fragments, tr. W. A. Oldfather (Loeb Classical Library, vol. 2, 1928), Fragments, introductory note. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source

The saying is not in the Discourses or the Enchiridion, the two works Arrian recorded. Its oldest record is an anecdote about Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoa, in Diogenes Laertius: to a young man who was talking nonsense Zeno said that we have two ears and one mouth so that we may listen more and talk less. A form of it later stood among the sayings that Greek anthologies (gnomologies) credit to Epictetus, which editors from the eighteenth century on print as fragments of doubtful authenticity. The passage shown is the Handbook’s own counsel on speech, from its rules of conduct in section 33.

Listen more than you speak: the body itself, with its two ears and one mouth, is made the measure of the right proportion.

Quoted as a line Epictetus coined. Its oldest attribution is to Zeno; what Epictetus’s recorded teaching says on the subject is the Handbook’s plainer rule that silence should be the general rule and only what is necessary be said, in few words.

• Another public-domain translationNature hath given Man one Tongue, but two Ears, that we may hear twice as much as we speak. Elizabeth Carter’s translation of the fragment (Fragments, second series, VI). Where it was seen
• Another public-domain translationNature has given to men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak. George Long’s translation, fragment CXLII (1877). Where it was seen
• Another public-domain translationNature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak. Hastings Crossley, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus (1903), Appendix A, fragment VI; the wording on Wikiquote’s Talk page. Where it was seen

Wisdom

• The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. (misattributed)
• A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. (not found) Mahatma Gandhi
• So many books, so little time. (not found) Frank Zappa
• The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them. (not found) Mark Twain
• Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. (misattributed) Albert Einstein

• en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_VII
• el.wikisource.org/wiki/Βίοι_φιλοσόφων/Ζ
• en.wikisource.org/wiki/All_the_Works_of_Epictetus,_Which_Are_Now_Extant/Fragments
• en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Discourses_of_Epictetus;_with_the_Encheiridion_and_Fragments/Fragments
• en.wikisource.org/wiki/Epictetus,_the_Discourses_as_reported_by_Arrian,_the_Manual,_and_Fragments/Fragments
• archive.org/details/goldensayingsofe00epic
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Epictetus (Golden Sayings fragments, fragment vi; the Fragments numbering discussion: CXLII)

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Attributed to Epictetus. No. Not as his own: the oldest record gives it to Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism (Diogenes Laertius, Lives 7.23). Later Greek anthologies credited a form of it to Epictetus, a fragment editors treat as doubtful; it is not in the Discourses or the Handbook. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/we-have-two-ears-and-one-mouth/ (checked 23 October 2026).

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