Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood

Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood

Form'd by thy converse, happily steer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe.

Form'd by thy converse, happily steer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe.

I never, with important air,
In conversation overbear.
. . . .
My tongue read more

I never, with important air,
In conversation overbear.
. . . .
My tongue within my lips I rein;
For who talks much must talk in vain.

A good memory and a tongue tied in the middle is a combination which gives immortality to conversation.

A good memory and a tongue tied in the middle is a combination which gives immortality to conversation.

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two read more

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.

Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.

Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.

Conversation is an exercise of the mind; gossip is merely an exercise of the tongue.

Conversation is an exercise of the mind; gossip is merely an exercise of the tongue.

Conversation is a game of circles.

Conversation is a game of circles.

Men of great conversational powers almost universally practise a
sort of lively sophistry and exaggeration which deceives for the read more

Men of great conversational powers almost universally practise a
sort of lively sophistry and exaggeration which deceives for the
moment both themselves and their auditors.