Never tell a secret to a bride or a groom; wait until they have been married longer.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that everyone of those darkly clustered houses encloses it’s own secret that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of it’s imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
The secret to humor is surprise.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The holiest of all holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart, the secret anniversaries of the heart, when the full tide of feeling overflows.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
A woman can keep one secret – the secret of her age
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Do not reveal thy secret to the apes.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I know that’s a secret, for it’s whispered everywhere.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Men with secrets tend to be drawn to each other, not because they want to share what they know but because they need the company of the like-minded, the fellow afflicted.
—Don DeLillo (b.1936) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Three can keep a secret if two are dead.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
To him that you tell your secret you resign your liberty.
—Anonymous
Trust him not with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
In the long run, there are no secrets. in science. The universe will not cooperate in a cover-up.
—Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British Scientist, Science-fiction Writer
The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
It is wise to disclose what cannot be concealed.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Women’s propensity to share confidences is universal. We confirm our reality by sharing.
—Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002) American Writer, Essayist, Critic
To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Keep shut the doors of thy mouth Even from the wife of thy bosom.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I am convinced digestion is the great secret of life.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
No one ever keeps a secret so well as a child.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
That which man conceals in his innermost chamber is plain and manifest to God.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The first rule in keeping secrets is nothing on paper.
—Thomas Powers (b.1940) American Journalist
Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
What one hides is worth neither more nor less than what one finds. And what one hides from oneself is worth neither more nor less than what one allows others to find.
—Andre Breton (1896–1966) French Poet, Essayist, Critic
Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also—if you love them enough.
—George Washington Carver (1864–1943) American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, Inventor
A secret between two is God’s secret, between three is all men s.
—Spanish Proverb
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