“谨言慎行，君子之道”出自《菜根谭》，《菜根谭》是元末明初道人洪应明收集编著的一部论述修养、人生、处世、出世的语录世集。本段大意：即使十句话能说对九句也未必有人称赞你，但是假如你说错了一句话就会接连受人指责；即使十次计谋你有九次成功也未必归功于你，可是其中只要有一次失败，埋怨和责难之声就会纷纷到来。所以君子宁肯保持沉默寡言的态度，绝不冲动急躁，做事宁可显得笨拙，绝对不能自作聪明显得高人一等。
《菜根谭》（谨言慎行，君子之道）
十语九中，未必称奇，一语不中，则愆尤骈集；十谋九成，未必归功，一谋不成，则訾议业兴。君子所以宁默毋躁，守拙无巧。
If out of ten utterances, nine are correct, others will not necessarily call you a genius. They will, however, throw all the blame on you for the one utterance that provided incorrect. If you make ten plans and nine of them succeed, others will not necessarily praise you for your acumen. They will, however, excoriate you for the one plan that went wrong. Therefore, a real gentleman preserves his silence and eschews rash action, and prefers to seem stupid rather than wise.（保罗·怀特 译）
You will not necessarily be praised for your prophetic vision even if nice of your ten remarks turn out to be correct. But once you make one incorrect remark, you will be universally condemned. By the same token, you will not necessarily be commended for your brilliance even if you mastermind ten schemes, out of which nine prove effective. But once you put up one ineffective scheme, you will have to face numerous accusing fingers. That is why the accomplished man would rather keep silence than take any rash action, and rather look dull than clever.（周文标 译）
