The question asked above by Acheer has been practically resolved by all wise men from the beginning of the world, but it is the boast of the Hegelians that it has for the first time been resolved philosophically by their master.  Others had maintained that you could not think a thing but through its opposite; he first maintained it could not exist but through its opposite, that, in fact, the thing and its opposite must needs arise together, and that eternally, as complements of one unity:  the white is not there without the black, nor the black without the white; the good is not there without the evil, nor the evil without the good.

Pride is unbecoming in women.  There were two proud women, and their names were contemptible; the name of the one, Deborah, meaning wasp, and of the other, Huldah, weasel.  Respecting the wasp it is written (Judges iv. 6), “And she sent and called Barak,” whereas she ought to have gone to him.  Concerning the weasel it is written (2 Kings xxii. 15), “Tell the man that sent you,” whereas she should have said, “Tell the king.”

Meggillah, fol. 14, col. 2.

If speech is worth one sela (a small coin so called), silence is worth two.

Ibid., fol. 18, col. 1.

    The Swiss motto, “Speech is worth silver, silence worth gold,”
    expresses a sentiment which finds great favor with the authors
    and varied expression in the pages of the Talmud.

If silence be good for wise men, how much better must it be for fools!

P’sachim, fol. 98, col. 2.

For every evil silence is the best remedy.

Meggillah, fol. 18, col. 1.

Silence is as good as confession.

Yevamoth, fol. 87, col. 1.

Silence in a Babylonian was a mark of his being of good family.

Kiddushin, fol. 71, col. 2.

Simeon, the son of Gamliel, said, “I have been brought up all my life among the wise, and I have never found anything of more material benefit than silence.”

Avoth, chap. 1.

Rabbi Akiva said, “Laughter and levity lead a man to lewdness; but tradition is a fence to the law, tithes are a fence to riches, vows are a fence to abstinence, while the fence of wisdom is silence.”

Ibid., chap. 3.

When they opened his brain, they found in it a gnat as big as a swallow and weighing two selas.

Gittin, fol. 56, col. 2.

The context of the above states a tradition current among the Jews in reference to Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem.  It is said that when, after taking the city, he had shamefully violated and profaned the Temple, he took the sacred vessels of the sanctuary, wrapped them in the veil of the holy place, and sailed with them to Rome.  At sea a storm arose and threatened to sink the ship; upon which he was heard reflecting, “It seems the God of these Jews has no power anywhere