Maurice Switzer

b. 1870 · American humorist & advertising writer

Maurice Switzer (born 1870) was an American humorist and advertising man whose 1906 collection Mrs. Goose, Her Book mixed nonsense verse with satirical quips for adults. It contains the earliest known version of this maxim, though Switzer himself was riffing on a much older proverbial idea. He is the leading candidate for the saying’s origin — not its certain author, and certainly not the smoother modern wording.

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1 quote we’ve traced

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt”

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