To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it

The English moralist and sage Samuel Johnson declared with piercing clarity: “To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.” In these words he reveals a lesson that has echoed through ages: that the strength of a secret lies only in the silence of its keeper. To entrust it to another is to loosen its chains, to give it wings that may fly beyond your grasp. Wisdom guards its own counsel, but folly imagines that others will value your secret as dearly as you do.

The origin of this thought lies in Johnson’s lifelong observation of human nature. He saw that men and women, though bound by friendship or oath, are seldom able to guard what is not their own. The tongue, restless and eager, delights in disclosure, whether from pride, carelessness, or betrayal. Thus Johnson cautions: guard your secrets within yourself, for to expect another’s silence is to lean upon a reed that will surely break.

History offers a vivid example in the fall of Julius Caesar, who placed his trust in men like Brutus and Cassius. His plans, ambitions, and confidences, once shared, became daggers in the hands of those who envied him. Had he kept his counsel closer, his fate may have been delayed. The betrayal of Caesar shows how dangerous it is to imagine that another will guard your secrets with the same zeal you would.

The ancients also echoed this truth. The Stoics taught that mastery of the tongue is among the highest forms of wisdom, and the Hebrews declared in Proverbs, “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life.” For once spoken, a secret no longer belongs to the speaker, but to the world, subject to the weakness of human lips. Silence, then, is not cowardice but strength, the shield of one’s inner life.

Therefore, O seekers, remember this: what you alone know is yours; what you share belongs to fortune. To keep your secret is the act of the wise; to demand another keep it is to tempt folly. Let your words be weighed with care, let your heart guard its treasures, and you will walk with freedom. But scatter them lightly, and you will live at the mercy of others. In this, Johnson’s counsel stands eternal: silence is power, and discretion the armor of the soul.