Why People Who Know the Most Often Say the Least

In group chats, at work and online, there is steady pressure to have an opinion on whatever comes up. Silence can be read as ignorance or as indifference, so opinions get produced quickly, often about things heard of for the first time that morning.

Chapter 56 of the Tao Te Ching opens with a line that runs directly against this: "Who knows does not speak; who speaks does not know" (chapter 56, C. Spurgeon Medhurst, 1905).

What the Line Is Pointing At

Taken literally, the line contradicts itself; the book is, after all, speaking. It reads better as an observation about a tendency than as a rule.

The tendency is familiar. Anyone who has asked a specialist a simple question and received "it depends" has seen it. People who know a subject well tend to qualify more and claim less, because they can see how much turns on details. Quick, confident opinions can come more easily to someone who sees less of what is involved.

So the line is less about volume than about a correlation that is easy to miss: the readiness to pronounce on something is not good evidence of understanding it.

What Holding Back Protects

The chapter continues: "Close the doors of the senses; blunt the sharp; unravel the confused; harmonise the dazzling; become one with the all." It ends by saying that in this state there will be "neither love nor hate; profit nor loss; favor nor disgrace."

Read practically, holding back protects at least three things. The first is the ability to change one's mind. A view stated publicly becomes something to defend, and it is harder to revise a position once others have seen it taken.

The second is attention. Every opinion offered invites replies, and following those replies takes time that was not planned for.

The third is relationships. Many disagreements are about positions neither person holds very strongly, but which became fixed once they were said aloud. "Blunt the sharp" fits here: the sharpness of an opinion is often what makes it costly, more than its content.

From the Tao

Who knows does not speak; who speaks does not know. — Tao Te Ching, chapter 56 (C. Spurgeon Medhurst, 1905)

Chapter 81 Says Something Similar

"Sincere words are not grand. Grand words are not faithful. The man of Tao does not dispute" (chapter 81, Walter Gorn Old, 1904).

The pairing is useful. Chapter 56 is about whether to speak; chapter 81 is about how. When there is something to say, the plainer version is usually the more trustworthy one, and the more elaborate one is sometimes serving another purpose.

This Is Not a Case for Silence About Everything

Some situations call for speaking: when someone is being harmed, when one has knowledge that others need, or when staying silent would mislead. Chapter 56 is about the reflex to have a view on everything, not about withholding what a situation genuinely requires.

There is also a form of speech the chapter would recognise: saying plainly that one does not know enough to have a view. It is honest, and it is short.

A Small Thing to Try

For one week, before offering an opinion, ask three questions. Do I know this subject well? Would I still hold this view in a month? Does anyone here need my view?

If the answer to all three is no, try saying "I haven't looked into it enough to say," or say nothing. At the end of the week, notice whether anything was lost, and what was saved in time and friction.