guide by our
silent wishes in our own favor."

"We seldom find ourselves in a large party without thinking; the
accident which brings so many here together, should bring our friends to
us as well."

"Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or
creditors before we have had time to look round."

"If we meet a person who is under an obligation to us, we remember it
immediately. But how often may we meet people to whom we are, ourselves,
under obligation, without its even occurring to us!"

"It is nature to communicate one's-self; it is culture to receive what
is communicated as it is given."

"No one would talk much in society, if he only knew how often he
misunderstands others."

"One alters so much what one has heard from others in repeating it, only
because one has not understood it."

"Whoever indulges long in monologue in the presence of others, without
flattering his listeners, provokes ill-will."

"Every word a man utters provokes the opposite opinion."

"Argument and flattery are but poor elements out of which to form a
conversation."

"The pleasantest society is when the members of it have an easy and
natural respect for one another."

"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in
what they find to laugh at."

"The ridiculous arises out of a moral contrast, in which two things are
brought together before the mind in an innocent way."

"The foolish man often laughs where there is nothing to laugh at.
Whatever touches him, his inner nature comes to the surface."

"The man of understanding finds almost everything ridiculous; the man of
thought scarcely anything."

"Some one found fault with an elderly man for continuing to pay
attention to young ladies. 'It is the only means,' he replied, 'of
keeping one's-self young, and everybody likes to do that.'"

"People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let
themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things
because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them
aside."

"Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality. We
should not be pleased, if old friends were to lay aside certain
peculiarities."

"There is a saying, 'He will die soon,' when a man acts unlike
himself."

"What kind of defects may we bear with and even cultivate in ourselves?
Such as rather give pleasure to others than injure them."

"The passions are defects o