Quotes About Discretion

I've always tried to stay out of the fray and not be an object of controversy.

I'm not under obligation to provide information to everyone that wants it when they want it.

Soldiers can sometimes make decisions that are smarter than the orders they've been given.

The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously-and have somebody find out.

When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I daresay, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into one's life.

Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.

Niemand au?er den Ratsmidgliedern, ihre Sekretären, Ehefrauen, den Minenarbeitern, die die Gruft gefunden haben...' Jacob hob den Zwerg in den Käfig. 'Ich wurde mich nicht darauf verlassen, dass euer Geheimnis sicher ist.

You don't make waves unless there's a reason, and it better be good. Because once you do, that's it. You're a trouble make, and they never think of you any other way.

If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.

When another asserted something that I thought an error, I denied myself the pleasure of contradicting him." Instead, he would agree in parts and suggest his differences only indirectly.

The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbour and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest functionaire possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose discretion it depends whether and how I am to be allowed to live or to work. —FRIEDRICH VON HAYEK, The Road to Serfdom

To me theatricalism means dramatic embellishment: the art of the aposiopesis; the abrupt closing of a book; the lighting of a cigarette; the effects off-stage, a pistol shot, a cry, a fall, a crash; an effective entrance, an effective exit – all of which may seem cheap and obvious, but if treated sensitively and with discretion, they are the poetry of the theatre.

High-class people have this concept called space, which means you cannot ask them questions or give them opinions about certain aspects of their life.

If you wish to keep your affairs secret, drink no wine.

The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.

Perish discretion when it interferes with duty

Trust not him with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers.

We will all satisfy our curiosity when we can, which is any time we think no one will catch us.

The key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught.

Reader: Dear Mr. Snicket, What is the best way to keep a secret? Lemony Snicket : Tell it to everyone you know, but pretend you are kidding.

There are some secrets you want to keep to yourself, even if they don't matter. They might only matter if you keep them secret.

You may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer.

Kitty has no discretion in her coughs, said her father; she times them ill.

For my part, I am determined never to speak of it again to anybody. I told my sister Phillips so the other day.