Frenos imponit linguae conscientia.
(Publilius Syrus, Sententia 665)

Conscience places reigns on the tongue.

(pron = FRAY-nohs ihm-POH-nit LIN-gwai cohn-skee-EHN-tee-ah)

Comment: If only concsience worked that well! I think that I have a fairly
well developed conscience. In fact, I think there's evidence in my life of an
over-active conscience which is its own problem. As for my tongue, there have
been times in my life when it has simply been the bronco that would not be
tamed, running rampant over the countryside, doing what it would.

I have noticed other wild horses out and about as well.

The word "conscience" comes directly from the Latin word above, which has
component parts: knowledge and together. Conscience, it would seem then, is a
kind of knowing together.

Here's a leap, but it seems to make sense. When my conscience is a common
understanding that I hold with others, especially when that understanding is
that another life is connected to mine (even the lives of those I strongly
dislike) the wild bronco of a tongue seems to calm himself and become more
tame.

It's always what I learn after a wild run of the tongue. My life is connected
to those that my tongue has damaged. When the wagging of my tongue hurts
another, it eventually hurts me.


Bob Patrick
(Used with permission)
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