Wondrous Jewel

mikey4444 | 16:42 Mon 03rd Apr 2017 | Phrases & Sayings

19 Answers

I am trying to trace the following quote without success ::

"Silence is a wondrous jewel to adorn a women but not often worn "

Can anyone help ?

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Milonelion

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Jennykenny

Don't know it, but it deserves to be forgotten.

mikey4444

Question Author

Oh I agree Jenny ( fingers crossed behind his back ).... !

hellywelly4

I've just googled it Mikey and come up with nothing. Very strange, you can usually put part of a phrase in and find it. Are you sure you didn't dream it???

Jackdaw33

As an axiom I couldn't agree more.

Prudie

MC Pigg?

stob

A similar mention here Mikey http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/fow/fow07.htm

mikey4444

Question Author

helly....I don't why I thought of this today, but I felt sure it was Shakespearean....."Taming of the Shrew" perhaps.

I might not have got the wording quite right though.

Tilly2

YOU TALKIN' TO ME, MIKEY?

mikey4444

Question Author

From your link Stob....."Silence is a fine jewel for a woman, but it is little worn."

That is more like it, but still no derivation though.

Tilly2

Shakespeare would have put it more eloquently than that.

mikey4444

Question Author

Looks like it may be Jewish in origin !

mikey4444

Question Author

Hee hee Tilly !

Tilly2

Quoted in 'Essential Works of Charles Spurgeon.'

DTCwordfan

I would surmise that it's origins lie in Renaissance literature, Elizabeth Carey, The Tragedy of Mariam.

In it, Herod describes Mariam, his second wife, as 'heaven's model' an 'inestimable jewel'... to my mind' is reduced to a silence characteristic of female modesty. ... out that 'as the looking-glass, howsoever fair and beautifully adorned, is nothing ... Herod thinks of Mariam in these terms: A precious mirror made by wondrous art, ...

jourdain2

Don't know, don't like it. My ex was prone to explain his attempts at strangling me and forcing me to my knee as a justifiable reaction because 'I talked too much'. Surprised and disappointed by your answer jackdaw.

Buenchico

There seem to be various forms of the wording.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations cites "Silence is a woman's best garment' as a mid-sixteenth century proverb.

However it also lists "Silentium mulieri praestat ornatum' ('Silence is a woman's finest ornament') as being included in Auctoritates Aristotelis, which was compiled around 1300:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auctoritates_Aristotelis

That publication was intended to provide a convenient summary of Aristotle's work but it seems to have added to what Aristotle actually wrote in 'Politics' and, even then, he was actually quoting an earlier (unnamed) poet:
"All classes must be deemed to have their special attributes; as the poet says of women, 'Silence is a woman's glory,' but this is not equally the glory of man"