It Is Not What We Learn In

There Are People Who Balk At Small Civilities On Account Of Their Manifest Insincerity. ... It Is Better And More Logical To Accept All The Polite Phraseology Which Facilitates Intercourse, And Contributes To The Sweetness Of Life. If We Discarded The Formal Falsehoods Which Are The Currency Of Conversation, We Should Not Be One Step Nearer The Vital Things Of Truth.

Sensuality, Too, Which Used To Show Itself Course, Smiling, Unmasked, And Unmistakable, Is Now Serious, Analytic, And So Burdened With A Sense Of Its Responsibilities That It Passes Muster Half The Time As A New Type Of Asceticism.

The Well-ordered Mind Knows The Value, No Less Than The Charm, Of Reticence. The Fruit Of The Tree Of Knowledge ... Falls Ripe From Its Stem; But Those Who Have Eaten With Sobriety Find No Need To Discuss The Processes Of Digestion.

Wit Is As Infinite As Love, And A Deal More Lasting In Its Qualities.

The Delusions Of The Past Seem Fond And Foolish. The Delusions Of The Present Seem Subtle And Sane.