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Secrecy: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

How can we expect another to keep our secret if we cannot keep it ourselves.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxims. No. 90.

A secret at home is like rocks under tide.— D. M. MULOCK — Magnus and Morna. Sc. 2.

And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, Give it an understanding, but no tongue.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 249.

But that I am forbid, To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 13.

If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, Let it be tenable in your silence still.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 247.

Two may keep counsel, putting one away.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 209.

Two may keep counsel when the third's away.— Shakespeare — Titus Andronicus. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 144.

Occultæ inimicitiæ magis timendæ sunt quam aperatæ. Secret enmities are more to be feared than open ones..— CICERO — Orationes in Verrem. II. 5.

71. Arcanum neque tu scrutaveris ullius unquam, commissumve teges et vino tortus et irâ. Never inquire into another man's secret; but conceal that which is intrusted to you, though pressed both by wine and anger to reveal it.— HORACE — Epistolæ. I. 18. 37.

Vitæ postscenia celant. Men conceal the past scenes of their lives.— LUCRETIUS — De Rerum Natura. IV.

1,182. Alium silere quod voles, primus sile. If you wish another to keep your secret, first keep it yourself.— SENECA — Hippolytus. 876.

Latere semper patere, quod latuit diu. Leave in concealment what has long been concealed.— SENECA — Edipus. 826.

Miserum est tacere cogi, quod cupias loqui. You are in a pitiable condition when you have to conceal what you wish to tell.— SYRUS — Maxims.

Tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus. The secret wound still lives within the breast. T.— VIRGIL — Eneid. IV. 67.

C'est toujours un mauvais moyen de lire dans le cœur des autres que d'affecter de cacher le sien. It is always a poor way of reading the hearts of others to try to conceal our own.— ROUSSEAU — Confessions. II.

Il faut laver son linge sale en famille. One should wash his soiled linen in private.— NAPOLEON I

L'on confie son secret dans l'amitié, mais il échappe dans l'amour. We trust our secrets to our friends, but they escape from us in love.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. IV.

Rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret: Le porter loin est difficile aux dames; Et je sais même sur ce fait Bon nombre d'hommes qui sont femmes. Nothing is so oppressive as a secret: women find it difficult to keep one long; and I know a goodly number of men who are women in this regard.— LA FONTAINE — Fables. VIII. 6.

Toute révélation d'un secret est la faute de celui qui l'a confié. When a secret is revealed, it is the fault of the man who confided it.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. V.

Wer den kleinsten Theil eines Geheimnisses hingibt, hat den andern nicht mehr in der Gewalt. He who gives up the smallest part of a secret has the rest no longer in his power.— JEAN PAUL RICHTER — Titan. Zykel 123.