Saepe subit poenas, ori qui non dat habenas.
(Medieval)

Often the individual who does not give reins to his mouth undergoes punishment.

(pron = SAI-pay SOO-bit POY-nahs OH-ree kwee nohn daht hah-BAY-nahs)

Comment: The more realistic version in my experiences is that first I don't
watch what I am saying. Then, because of that I give offense to someone.
Finally, because of the offense, something negative comes back to me. It's one
of the simplest examples of "karma" that I know. What I give out of my mouth
comes back to affect me.

The image of reins is an interesting one here. The implication is that our
speaking becomes like a runaway horse (or horses!). From what has speech
broken free? We might at first think that such runaway speech has broken free
from good thinking, but honestly, when my mouth has gotten me in trouble, my
thinking has been involved. What has not been engaged is my own inner sense of
why I would need or want to think and say the things I am saying in the first
place. In other words, looking backwards, my own offensive speech has been a
result of acting out loud some inner need or wound that I have not owned, that
I have not acknowledged. And so, the mind/mouth disconnected from the rest of
the inner life goes running through the streets of other peoples' lives making
a mess.

Think before you speak is a good maxim. Better might be: be still, and be in
your own life before your tongue goes running through the lives of others.