Egotists cannot converse, they talk to themselves only.—­A.  Bronson Alcott.

The extreme pleasure we take in talking of ourselves should make us fear that we give very little to those who listen to us.  —­La ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Many can argue, not many converse.—­A.  Bronson Alcott.

One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.—­La ROCHEFOUCAULD.

The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit.

It is a secret known but to few, yet of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall into a man’s conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.—­Steele.

In my whole life I have only known ten or twelve persons with whom it was pleasant to speak—­i.e., who keep to the subject, do not repeat themselves, and do not talk of themselves; men who do not listen to their own voice, who are cultivated enough not to lose themselves in commonplaces, and, lastly, who possess tact and good taste enough not to elevate their own persons above their subjects.—­Metternich.

Counsel.—­I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.—­Shakespeare.

The best receipt—­best to work and best to take—­is the admonition of a friend.—­Bacon.

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself.  His counsel may then be useful, where your own self-love might impair your judgment.—­Seneca.

Let no man value at little price a virtuous woman’s counsel.—­George Chapman.

Courage.—­The conscience of every man recognizes courage as the foundation of manliness, and manliness as the perfection of human character.—­Thomas Hughes.

To struggle when hope is banished! 
To live when life’s salt is gone! 
To dwell in a dream that’s vanished! 
To endure, and go calmly on!

The brave man is not he who feels no fear,
For that were stupid and irrational;
But he, whose noble soul its fear subdues,
And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. 

                                    —­Joanna Baillie.

                     A valiant man

Ought not to undergo or tempt a danger,
But worthily, and by selected ways;
He undertakes by reason, not by chance. 

                                    —­Ben Jonson.

True courage is cool and calm.  The bravest of men have the least of a brutal bullying insolence, and in the very time of danger are found the most serene and free.  Rage, we know, can make a coward forget himself and fight.  But what is done in fury or anger can never be placed to the account of courage.—­Shaftesbury.