A word is in your bond until you speak it; once you speak it, you enter its bond. Guard your tongue as you guard your gold and your silver.
الكلام في وثاقك ما لم تتكلم به، فإذا تكلمت به صرت في وثاقه، فاخزن لسانك كما تخزن ذهبك وورقك
El-kelâmu fî visâkıke mâ lem tetekellem bih, fe-izâ tekellemte bihî sırte fî visâkıh; fahzün lisâneke kemâ tahzünü zehebeke ve verikak
Ali, Nahj al-Balagha, saying 381 (Subhi Salih edition, p. 543; saying 381 in the Abduh edition). Nahj al-Balagha is a compilation without chains of transmission by al-Sharif al-Radi (d. 1015).
An unspoken word is in your hand.
Once you speak it, you fall into its hand.
It cannot be taken back, cannot be erased.
Now it carries you, not you it.
That is why Ali
tells you to guard your tongue like gold.
Gold, once spent, is gone.
A word, once spent, remains.