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I am looking for an English proverb or idiom for the following sentence.

Talking in the day time spoils one's business ; talking in the night time spoils one's sleep

Something like chatting/gossip is a waste of time. But, that just seems to be a phrase rather than proverb or idiom. Kindly help me with the appropriate one.

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  • Is this an actual proverb in another language (if so, which language, and what is it in the original)? Or did you make it up yourself?
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 10:42
  • @JanusBahsJacquet I don't think it is a proverb per se, but just a sentence that I came across.
    – user75512
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 10:52
  • I know it's an idiom/proverb request but if you happen to need some word (perhaps in some other situation) for unnecessary chattering/gossiping, palaver may be a potential word. According to Oxford Dictionary, it means "Talk unnecessarily and at length". e.g. ‘it's too hot for palavering’
    – Tarun
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 11:09
  • IMO your sentence is quite good on its own.
    – Vector
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 13:40

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Proverbs 14:23 {ISV; BibleHub} reads:

In hard work there is always profit, but too much chattering leads to poverty.

A related adage is

too much talk, and not enough action

More picturesque is

A chattering bird builds no nest.

(A Cameroonian proverb; the English version happily seems to be catching on.)

{special dictionary.com}

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  • That sounds perilously close to something that might end up over a gate…
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 10:41

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