Words Can't Be Unsaid

October 5th, 2021

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.

- Zeno, quoted in Diogenes Laertius, \"Lives of the Eminent Philosophers\", 7.1.26"

My first lesson in Stoicism and the short sentence hits the bullseye with me. To count how many times I let my tongue speak such evil and wicked words only to feel the sting of guilt later.

This first lesson is a great reminder that I when I am pushed, when I have become upset, my first reaction should not be to speak. I need to keep quiet and let my mind calm so that I might find the wise and measured response required.