When the word is out it belongs to another. 
Meaning and origin
Meaning of Latin proverb "Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum": Once a word is spoken, it flies away and cannot be recalled. In other words, be careful with your words because once they are said, they cannot be taken back.
Origin: This Latin proverb dates back to ancient Roman times and is attributed to the Roman poet Horace. It emphasizes the importance of thinking before speaking and the irreversible nature of words once they are spoken.
Proverbs on a similar topic
- The world is full of fools.
- Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- It takes two to make a bargain.
- To set the wolf to keep the sheep.
- After us the deluge.
- A fool may throw a stone into a well which a hundred Wise men cannot pull out.
- Fools make feasts, and Wise men eat them.
- It is not the beard that makes the philosopher.
- Better the foot slip than the tongue.
- Fools rush in where angles fear to tread.
- A word and a stone let go cannot be called back.
- He cannot speak well that cannot hold his tongue.
- Empty vessels make the greatest sound.
- Ignorance is the mother of impudence.
- A great head and a little wit.
- If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before night.
- If an ass goes a travelling, he'll not come home a horse.
- Give a fool rope enough, and he will hang himself.
- If the beard were all, the goat might preach.
- A fool will laugh when he is drowning.
- The brains don't lie in the beard.
- The head grey, and no brains yet.
- Make not your sauce till you have caught the fish.
- Send not a cat for lard.
- He that sends a fool means to follow him.
- A grey head is often placed on green shoulders.
- Sweet appears sour when we pay.
- If all fools wore feathers we should seem a flock of geese.
Related proverbs
Similar proverbs in the same language
English
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A word spoken is past recalling.
Similar proverbs in another language
Latin
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Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.
Once sent, the word flies irrevocably.
-
Nescit vox missa reverti.
He did not know that the voice had returned.
French
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Parole lâchée ne revient jamais.
A dropped word never comes back.
-
Puisque la parole est issue du corps, elle n'y peut jamais entrer.
Since speech comes from the body, it can never enter it.
German
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Man braucht viele Worte, um ein Wort zurückzunehmen.
It takes a lot of words to take back a word.
Czech
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Kdo jednou ptáka z ruky pustí, na střeše ho těžko uchytí.
He who once lets the bird out of his hand can hardly keep it on the roof.
-
Vypuštěné slovo a rozlitou vodu nikdy neschytáš.
You never catch a dropped word and a spill.
-
Propovíš-li slovo plaše, tisíci koňmi ho nevtáhneš zase.
If thou speakest the word timidly, thou shalt not drag him again with a thousand horses.