another bizarre question

[kaigou]

I'm sure almost all of you have heard the phrase, "better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it" (with the usual web-inflected variations). But the version I came across this afternoon in a translated novel goes like this:

Far better to ask a question and be thought a fool for a moment, than to be silent and remain a fool forever.

The context of the author's use implies that it's some kind of familiar adage, but it's an inversed version that I can't recall ever seeing before. Does anyone else recognize this version? Have any idea where it comes from, or might be able to think of a possible source? Searching the net just got me a bazillion hits on the first phrase (keep-your-mouth-shut) and none that I could see on the second.

I'd just like to be able to attribute it properly whenever I quote it, although I suppose failing any actual attribution I guess I'd just use the novelist's name instead..?

Comments

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

The one you're thinking of that's cited as Twain et al is the first version I mentioned (the keep-your-mouth-shut), which appears to most likely have its origins in a Judaic proverb, which is roughly similar to the common adage. The one I was looking for citation on was the inverse -- do not keep your mouth shut -- and so far, following the trail of Japanese adage, it appears to originate in a Chinese saying.

Which if you think about it, has a rather amusing twist considering the Western and Eastern perspectives on what's intelligent to do/be, and what you're advised to not do. Hrm.