"Least said, soonest mended."
"Silence is golden."

My father, born 1888, a farmworker, had many old saws, one of which was "If I've note to say I say note" (Nottingham dialect, not Yorkshire), which still strikes me as worthy of emulation. (He would also say, in approbation, "You'll mek a man before yer Mother" (pronouncing "Mother" as spelt, not "muther"), and, in disapprobation, "Yer like an old man wi' a wooden leg made a' smoke").

kat: I think most wives regard their husbands as taciturn (I know mine does); we, for our part, tend to think our wives garrulous.