Others are more careful with their sentences and take time to consider what the impact of their sentences might be and if they are therefore worth uttering.
As most of us are not perfect, we probably fall somewhere between those two approaches. Without thinking, it is very easy to open your mouth to change feet, as the saying goes.
In the past week or so New Zealanders have had to put up with the unedifying sight of two political figures, one sitting MP and one former Cabinet minister, doing just that — proselytising on a subject either without thinking what they are saying or being deliberately provocative and repugnant.
Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris is in the spotlight for his obviously racist Instagram post criticising "Indians, Asians, Blacks and Pākehā" for supporting the campaign of Labour’s Peeni Henare in Tāmaki Makarau.
Mr Ferris claimed those non-Māori were "campaigning to take a Māori seat from Māori". His party apologised for that racism, but he has subsequently dismissed the apology made on his behalf by co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and has spectacularly tripled-down on his views in later videos and interviews, saying he has a right to express his own opinions.
Former Labour police and economic development minister Stuart Nash is the other politician whose offensive comments have got him into trouble in recent days.
Mr Ferris’ thoughts are nasty, toxic and divisive; Mr Nash’s outburst about women on The Platform was plain stupid and reveals an ignorance and a foolishness from an MP who has put his foot in it on a number of occasions.
Mr Nash’s penchant for gaffes, highlighted by The Spinoff in its 2023 article "A brief history of Stuart Nash’s big mouth", would, you might think, have made him aware of the need to be more cautious.
Clearly there are lessons to be learnt by both individuals and by the parties they are with or align themselves to. It’s a good reminder there will always be loose cannons which blast headline-making material across the country when perhaps least expected.
Mr Nash has at least apologised for his absolute clanger. However, with obvious signs he is snuggling up to New Zealand First — he talked at its annual conference last weekend and would not rule out campaigning for it — it makes one wonder if more such comments, designed to attack the wokeism the party rails against, may not be far away.
Leader Winston Peters has distanced himself from the comments, agreeing with RNZ it was a "dumb mistake" to make. Ironically, in 2021 Mr Nash slammed "unsavoury" members of Groundswell who had portrayed foreign affairs minister Nanaia Mahuta as a Mongrel Mob-style gangster, saying it was "a disgusting post about a woman".
Mr Ferris, on the other hand, appears highly unlikely to apologise. He has shown total disdain for the authority of his party and party co-leaders, and an appalling level of racial prejudice for those from all walks of life, many of whom are already battling narrow-mindedness and bigotry.
He tries to use colonialism as a rationale for his approach and responded to Labour MP Willie Jackson’s comment that he needs to "grow up" by saying he didn’t "give a crap who you care about or what you care about".
No wonder Labour leader Chris Hipkins has spoken out about the way Te Pāti Māori wants to play things. Such opinions had no place in government, he said, and if it reflected Te Pāti Māori’s campaign approach, that would make it very difficult to see them as a coalition partner.
What Mr Ferris may not realise, or care about, are the possible repercussions of his comments on Labour’s ability to form a coalition after next year’s election.
Te Pāti Māori urgently needs to rein him in if it ever wants to sit on the government’s side of the House.
