Very clever men pretend all their lives to condemn trickery so that, at a crucial moment and for a large stake, they may indulge in it. - François de La Rochefoucauld

Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.

We should observe the place, the occasion, the temper in which we find the person who listens to us, for if there is much art in speaking to the purpose, there is no less in knowing when to be silent. There is an eloquent silence which serves to approve or to condemn, there is a silence of discretion and of respect. In a word, there is a tone, an air, a manner, which renders everything in conversation agreeable or disagreeable, refined or vulgar.

It is a very serious thing indeed: Nine times in ten ’tis but caprice or fashion, Coquetry, or a wish to take the lead, The pride of a mere child with a new sash on. Or wish to make a rival’s bosom bleed: But the {tenth} instance will be a tornado, For there’s no saying what they will or may do.” { — Lord Byron,} Don Juan, canto xii. stanza 77.]