if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

If you are only going to say something rude or mean-spirited, keep quiet instead. Oh, he makes me so mad! But my mom always said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," so I'm just going to walk away and cool off. A: "Ugh, she's such a spoiled brat!" B: "Tom! If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all!" "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Now why can't people on the Internet heed that advice?

See also: all, anything, have, if, nice, say, to

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