Imagine the following scene: A man enters a church wearing an expensive Swiss watch and an elegant wool suit. The ushers immediately notice the tailored suit and the fine watch. They seat the man in a prime seat in the front row, with a good view and visible to everyone else. Then, a man wearing shabby clothing enters the church.

Abraham Lincoln once famously said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” It is no small challenge to hold our tongue. Multiple studies show that people tend to speak at least 7,000 words per day (some studies suggest the average exceeds 10,000 words).

When a finance manager in a large organization goes through the accounts at year-end – or when an auditor works through the books to prepare the audited report – there can sometimes be a stray item in the accounts (an unfamiliar or unexpected line) that needs to be identified, explained and put in the right column. Is it an asset or a liability? Should it be colored red or black?

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Greco-Turkish War—a war fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of WWI. It was fought between May 1919 and October 1922.

Some time ago, experts from Scotland were called in to examine a bottle of very expensive whiskey sold by an exclusive Swiss Hotel. A Chinese millionaire had been staying at the hotel and decided to treat himself to a drop or two from a bottle in the hotel’s collection dating from 1878. This guest paid 10,000 Swiss Francs, over 12,000 dollars, for those few drops.