My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, who in turn told her daughter, my grandmother, who repeated it to her daughter, my mother, who used to remind her daughter, my own sister, that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art, but that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop.

The saying praises eloquence but elevates restraint: true mastery in speech includes knowing when to stop. By framing it as a maxim handed down through generations of women in his family, the speaker underscores its practical, domestic wisdom rather than academic rhetoric. The point is ethical as well as stylistic—good talk should serve understanding and harmony, not ego or domination. In social life (and by extension in art), timing and proportion matter: leaving space for others, avoiding excess, and ending at the moment of greatest effect can be more persuasive than continued brilliance.