Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Read Chapter 17
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
As in a house, when the door is shut, it is not known what members there are hidden within, so, generally speaking, if a fool holds his peace, it is hidden whether he is wise or foolish. This is only so, however, if no other works come to light that may speak the mind even of one who is silent. For this reason, the holy man, seeing that his friends were anxious to appear what they were not, charged them to hold their peace, so they might not appear what they were. And so it is said by Solomon, “Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise.” .
It falls to the intellect to discern the divisions and the outlines of questions, and understanding’s highest function is to know that you do not know. Hence it is said, “Wisdom will be credited to the fool who asks questions,” for although the questioner does not know the answer to his question, nonetheless, because he inquires prudently and comes to understand what he does not understand, this very thing—his having prudently acknowledged what he does not know—is credited to him as wisdom. .
