"To listen closely and reply well is..." - Quote by Francois De La Rochefoucauld

“We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.”

“The man that thinks he loves his mistress for her own sake is mightily mistaken.”

“All men are equally proud. The only difference is that not all take the same methods of showing it.”

“The best conversation is rare. Society seems to have agreed to treat fictions as realities, and realities as fictions; and the simple lover of truth, especially if on very high grounds, as a religious or intellectual seeker, finds himself a stranger and alien.”

“Whether in conversation we generally agree or disagree with others is largely a matter of habit: the one tendency makes as much sense as the other.”

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

“Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief.”

“Never explain - your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”

“When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.”