FLATTERY.--Persons who try by means of flattery to put us off our guard in intercourse with them, employ a dangerous expedient, like a sleeping-draught, which, when it does not send the patient to sleep, keeps him all the wider awake.
A GOOD LETTER-WRITER.--A person who does not write books, thinks much, and lives in unsatisfying society, will usually be a good letter-writer.
THE UGLIEST OF ALL.--It may be doubted whether a person who has travelled much has found anywhere in the world uglier places than those to be met with in the human face.
THE SYMPATHETIC ONES.--Sympathetic natures, ever ready to help in misfortune, are seldom those that participate in joy; in the happiness of others they have nothing to occupy them, they are superfluous, they do not feel themselves in possession of their superiority, and hence readily show their displeasure.
THE RELATIVES OF A SUICIDE.--The relatives of a suicide take it in ill part that he did not remain alive out of consideration for their reputation.
INGRATITUDE FORESEEN.--He who makes a large gift gets no gratitude; for the recipient is already overburdened by the acceptance of the gift.
IN DULL SOCIETY.--Nobody thanks a witty man for politeness when he puts himself on a par with a society in which it would not be polite to show one's wit.
THE PRESENCE OF WITNESSES.--We are doubly willing to jump into the water after some one who has fallen in, if there are people present who have not the courage to do so.
BEING SILENT.--For both parties in a controversy, the most disagreeable way of retaliating is to be vexed and silent; for the aggressor usually regards the silence as a sign of contempt.
FRIENDS' SECRETS.--Few people will not expose the private affairs of their friends when at a loss for a subject of conversation.
HUMANITY.--The humanity of intellectual celebrities consists in courteously submitting to unfairness in intercourse with those who are I not celebrated.
THE EMBARRASSED.--People who do not feel sure of themselves in society seize every opportunity of publicly showing their superiority to close friends, for instance by teasing them.
THANKS.--A refined nature is vexed by knowing that some one owes it thanks, a coarse nature by knowing that it owes thanks to some one.