Silence is less injurious than a weak reply. [ Colton ]

He that can reply calmly to an angry man is too hard for him. [ Proverb ]

The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit. [ Moliere ]

To answer a question so as to admit of no reply, is the test of a man. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words or in good order. A good continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution, shows slowness; and a good reply, or second speech, without a good settled speech, showeth shallowness and weakness. [ Bacon ]

Plutarch tells us of an idle and effeminate Etrurian who found fault with the manner in which Themistocles had conducted a recent campaign. What, said the hero in reply, have you, too, something to say about war, who are like the fish that has a sword, but no heart? He is always the severest censor on the merits of others who has the least worth of his own. [ E. L. Magoon ]