What I know - I keep to myself. Careless talk costs lives
A cloth-capped working man gives a knowing sideways smile above the handwritten line 'What I know - I keep to myself'. The ordinary face makes secrecy a mark of the sensible common man (plain folks), and the closing line 'Careless talk costs lives' attaches a death toll to idle conversation (fear appeal).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- HM Stationery Office (British government), printed by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd.
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
HM Stationery Office, c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.
Text on the object
What I know - I keep to myself CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY LOWE & BRYDONE PRINTERS LIMITED, LONDON N.W.10 S1-102
