Thomas A Kempis 1.10 - Peers of mind and spirit

Overflowing with words

Watch out for the babble of men; for it really gets in our way to focus on crude things, even if the conversation started out innocently. Quickly we find ourselves getting into the dirt and caught up in something foolish. How often have I wished I had kept quiet, that I had not been out among people. 

But why do we speak so frequently and trade stories amongst ourselves, since we rarely return to silence without some injury to our conscience? We talk so much because we hope our conversations will bring us some mutual comfort, and we hope that a variety of thoughts will relieve our hearts. And we are so glad -- when it comes to things we love, or things we want, or things we dislike -- we are eager to talk and think about them. 

It is usually pointless and purposeless. This outward consolation is no small loss to the inner divine consolation. So we must watch and pray that the time does not pass by uselessly. If it is right and helpful to speak, then speak things which are constructive. Bad habits and careless conduct leave our mouths unguarded. It helps more than a little for our spiritual development to have a devotional contribution of spiritual things, most of all when peers of mind and spirit associate with each other. 

Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis, 1.10. 

Translation focused on contemporary English and preservation of rhetorical force and art