A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

A SHUT mouth catches no flies

• 
  1599 J. MINSHEU Spanish Grammar 83 In a closed vp mouth a flie cannot get in. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 219 Into a mouth shut flies flie not. 1659 T. FULLER Appeal of Injured Innocence I. 12 The Spanish Proverb.. is necessary in dangerous.. Times, Where the mouth is shut no Fly doth enter. 1742 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Feb.) Speak and speed: the close mouth catches no flies. 1897 ‘H. S. MERRIMAN’ In Kedar’s Tents xxiii. Concha, remembering.. that no flies enter a shut mouth, was silent. 1926 T. A. WILLARD City of Sacred Well xv. Tell each of them that a shut mouth catches no flies. We may find.. nothing.. and.. we do not want the other men laughing at us behind our backs. 1984 ‘M. HEBDEN’ Pel and Pirates (1987) v. 43 ‘People keep a tight lip. In bocca chiusa non entra mai mosca.. . It’s an old Italian saying. The people on the island use it.’ ‘What’s it mean?’ ‘A fly never enters a closed mouth. They don’t talk much.’ ■discretion; speech and silence
  

shut see also a DOOR must either be shut or open; when ONE door shuts, another opens; it is too late to shut the STABLE-door after the horse has bolted.
shy see ONCE bitten, twice shy.
sick see the DEVIL was sick, the Devil a saint would be.. ; HOPE deferred makes the heart sick.
side see it is BEST to be on the safe side; the BREAD never falls but on its buttered side; the GRASS is always greener on the other side of the fence; PROVIDENCE is always on the side of the big battalions; there are TWO sides to every question.
sight see in vain the NET is spread in the sight of the bird; OUT of sight, out of mind.
SILENCE is a woman’s best garment
Cf. SOPHOCLES Ajax 1. 293 ’■’•"t?.¹;.¹ ^Л¹¹'' ^!/ ^s'.'ii <.-<7 silence is a woman’s ornament. Th paag of St. Pau alluded toin quot. 1539is I CORINTHIANS xiv. 34 (AV) Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak.

•