“The wise speak only of what they know.” J.R.R. Tolkien

I often come back to Tolkien, and why not? The breadth of material he came up with for his works in Middle Earth is staggering. Many of the people on word press are novelists as well so they can appreciate it.

I mean Tolkien wrote such in-depth back stories for his lore, he included new languages and songs in those languages.

So, its unsurprising to me anyway that from this vast array of words we can glean pearls of wisdom. The one above “The wise speak only what they know” is a great one. Let me put it in these terms.

In life we meet all sorts of people. I have a woman I work with who nearly daily is giving people advice and pontificating about dieting. She is nearly 400 pounds, very obese. Nice lady don’t get me wrong but I can’t fathom taking dieting advice from someone like that.

This is what Tolkien means and its something you should be very aware of in your life. Getting car advice from a chemist might not be sage. Think about the people you interact with in life, think about what they actually do (that you know of) and see if this jives with what they are telling you.

“They say” is a tell-tale signal that this person doesn’t know they and is using personal opinion to formulate advice. Be wary of supposed experts in your life. No one knows you better than yourself. “The wise speak of what they know” The unwise seek knowledge to affirm their impulses and feelings.

Be wary…

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