Smoke your pipe and be silent; there's only wind and smoke in the world.

The proverb advises quiet composure: attend to a simple, grounding ritual (“smoke your pipe”) and refrain from speech because much of what circulates in the world is mere “wind and smoke”—noise, vanity, and transitory appearances. Read this way, it is both skeptical and self-protective: silence guards against being drawn into futile argument or rumor, and it implies that wisdom lies in recognizing the emptiness of much public talk. The imagery also suggests impermanence: like smoke and wind, worldly concerns dissipate quickly, so the prudent response is calm detachment rather than verbal escalation.