Meaning & Analysis
Nature has equipped us with two ears (or eyes) and only one tongue, implying we are designed to listen and observe more than we speak.
Insights
Value of Listening
Emphasizes the importance of attentive listening over excessive speaking, advocating for receptivity and humility in communication.
Observation Before Judgment
Suggests that careful observation and perception should precede verbal reaction or judgment, reinforcing reflective over impulsive behavior.
Proportional Wisdom
Implicates a natural order in which faculties for intake (ears, eyes) outnumber output (speech), reinforcing the idea that wisdom lies in moderation and restraint.
Classical Rhetorical Influence
Attributed in part to ancient thinkers like Demosthenes and later embraced by early modern moralists, the idea reflects enduring classical values: silence as strength, listening as a virtue, and speech as a tool to be wielded with care.
Moral and Educational Utility
In Renaissance moral philosophy and educational treatises, this proverb functioned as practical counsel—especially for youth or public speakers—encouraging patience, self-regulation, and respect in discourse.
Natural Order as Moral Guide
Reinforces the belief that nature embodies moral logic. If we are built to listen more than we speak, then moderation in speech is not only wise but part of a divine or natural design.
Rhetorical Devices
Numerical Contrast
The proverb uses a striking numerical asymmetry—two ears (or eyes), one tongue—to create a memorable moral ratio favoring perception over expression.
Anthropomorphic Design
Attributing intentionality to Nature as a designer of moral bodies imbues the natural form with didactic purpose, bridging biology with ethics.
Paradox of Speech
The proverb articulates its message through speech—advocating for less speech—thus enacting the very moderation it prescribes through its brevity.
Transcription
Quotations
To euery creature longith but oon tonge and two erys.
It is better to heare than to speake much, and therefore Nature hath geuen vs two eares, and but one tongue.
Nature hath gyuen man therfore two eares and but one mouthe, that we shulde be readyer to heare than to speake.
You have twoe eares and one tongue, because you shoulde heare more than you speake.
(tongue: to that ende . . that wee shoulde heare muche, and speake little).
One saith we have two eares, given us by nature, and one tongue; to the end that we should heare much more than we should speake.
Euery man hath one tongue, And two eares, nature in her building, Is a most curious worke-maister. That is as much (as) to say, a man should heare more Then he should speake.
You have two Eyes and two Ears, but one Tongue; you know my meaning.
Demosthenes . . had these Sentences; That Wise Men speak little, and that therefore Nature hath given Men two Ears and one Tongue, to hear more than they speak.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.