oak

A wise old owl sat on an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why aren't we like that wise old bird?

The four-line poem “A Wise Old Owl” is cited in print from at least 1883,
but is of unknown authorship. A 1904 source credits “the immortal poet Bromley.”
The poem and its moral were used in World Wars I and II.
The owl poem was a favorite of industrialist John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)
and Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933; president from 1923-1929).