Raba said: (Length of) life, children and sustenance depend not on merit but (rather on) mazal. For (take) Rabbah and R. Hisda. Both were saintly rabbis; one master prayed for rain and it came, the other master prayed for rain and it came. R. Hisda lived to the age of ninety-two. Rabbah (only) lived to the age of forty. In R. Hisda’s house there were held sixty marriage feasts, at Rabbah’s house there were sixty bereavements. At R. Hisda’s house there was the purest wheaten bread for dogs and it went to waste. At Rabbah’s house there was barley bread for human beings and that is not to be had. Moed Katan 28a
“To say the right thing at the right time, keep still most of the time.” John W. Roper Those who get in trouble most often are those cannot seem to keep still, remain silent. Life teaches many lessons. Among the best lessons of life is one my father taught me at an early age was, “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.” The contributions we make to life via our mouth are many and varied. Most of the time, I reckon, they are not contributions at all, but things that diminish the richness of life.
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