The Havamal: A Heathen Path of Living (Part 39)

63.

A wise man thinks before

Asking questions or giving answers;

It is safe to tell a secret to one,

Tell it to three and the world knows.

An aspect of wisdom is knowing when to speak and when to shut up. I read a joke that said, “After working in retail for eight years, I have learned that there are such things as dumb questions.” This stanza reminds us that to simply ask questions without thinking for yourself first is not a sign of wisdom. It may be a sign of childlike curiosity, but not wisdom. Also, giving out information to anyone and everyone is not necessarily smart either. The reason why it is safe to tell a secret to one person is because you can be choosy about who you trust. Also, if the secret gets out, then it will be easy to track down who betrayed you. But, if you give out information to too many people, then you will never be able to control what happens to that information. Your secret will certainly not stay secret for long.