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.]

Tongues I'll hang on every tree
That shall civil sayings show. . . .

Tongues I'll hang on every tree
That shall civil sayings show. . . .

He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel.

He rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel.

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 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.

Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

The windy satisfaction of the tongue.

The windy satisfaction of the tongue.

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under
his tongue;
Though he spare it, read more

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under
his tongue;
Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within
his mouth:
Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps
within him.

Since word is thrall, and thought is free,
Keep well thy tongue, I counsel thee.

Since word is thrall, and thought is free,
Keep well thy tongue, I counsel thee.