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English Phrase: Keep (something) to yourself
If you can keep a secret, then you can keep something to yourself.
There you have it.
That’s it; my work is done here.
No, but seriously, to keep something to yourself means not telling anyone else about it, no matter what it is.
They can ask, beg or order you to tell them, but nothing will work.
No one will ever learn the secret from you because your lips are sealed.
So that all sounds good, but nothing wants to be shared as much as a secret.
No matter how much you are determined to keep something to yourself, there’s always a little voice inside your head that says you can share your secret with someone.
Logically, it makes sense.
The longer you have a secret, the larger a burden it becomes.
We all know that large burdens become easier to carry when shared.
Money will burn a hole in your pocket, but a secret will burn a hole in your head.
Once you share something that you’ve been keeping to yourself with someone else, it ceases to be a secret.
A secret is something no one else knows about.
If two people know a secret, it’s no longer a secret.
If you have a favourite cake shop or restaurant, keep it to yourself.
If you know about some hidden gem of a holiday resort or hot spring which is quiet and economically priced, keep it to yourself.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 76.
The higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100, the easier the passage is to read.