To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.

The line is a pointed warning about the cost of living defensively. It suggests that criticism is an inevitable companion of visibility, action, and self-definition; the only sure way to escape it is to withdraw from speech, effort, and even identity. Read this way, the quote functions as a rebuke to perfectionism and fear of judgment: if one waits for universal approval, one will end up inert. Its compressed, three-part structure (“say… do… be…”) escalates from expression to action to existence, implying that the attempt to avoid criticism can shrink a life at every level.