- English translation
Your tongue is the horse you ride: rein it in and it will keep you safe; let it run into disgrace and it will drag you down with it.
- Literal wording
Your tongue is your horse: if you guard it, it guards you, and if you debase it, it debases you.
- Meaning and lesson
Speech is pictured as a horse that carries its rider. Whoever restrains their words and keeps them from slips, insults, or indiscretions is carried safely through, spared quarrels, shame, and harm.
The second half warns of the reverse: let the tongue run into careless or shameful talk, and it throws its rider into the same disgrace. Debasing the tongue means this kind of loose speech, not literal mistreatment of an animal. The proverb urges self-protection through verbal discipline, binding reputation and safety to how one speaks.
- When it is used
Suitable when cautioning someone, often a younger person or a hothead, to weigh their words before speaking, or when reflecting afterward that a careless remark brought trouble on the speaker. It works as gentle advice as well as a pointed reminder.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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