The first vertue, sone, if thou wilt lerne,
Is to restreyne and kepen wel thy tonge.

The first vertue, sone, if thou wilt lerne,
Is to restreyne and kepen wel thy tonge.

I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.

I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.

Better the feet slip then the tongue.
[Better the feet slip than the tongue.]

Better the feet slip then the tongue.
[Better the feet slip than the tongue.]

He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel.

He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel.

So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kinds of arguments and question deep,
All replication read more

So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kinds of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep.
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill,
Catching all passions in his craft of will; . . .

You play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me.

You play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me.

The tongue is the vile slave's vilest part.
[Lat., Lingua mali pars pessima servi.]

The tongue is the vile slave's vilest part.
[Lat., Lingua mali pars pessima servi.]

Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man's tongue shakes out
his master's undoing.

Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man's tongue shakes out
his master's undoing.

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of
things in the sea, is tamed, read more

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of
things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison.