The world is wrong, just because people talk too much and do not carry out their ideals. If action took the place of words, the world would change very soon. A man who does good and does not talk about it is perfect. The man who does very little good and magnifies it in his speech, is not good. If I love you, you know it, I need not tell you all the time; on the other hand, if I did not love you, you would know it also, and you would not believe me if I said I did love you a thousand times. People speak too much because they seek fame, because they wish to be thought better than their brethren. Those who do most good say the least about it.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Discourses given by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in London and Paris’; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 19, March 2, 1912)