—And these few precepts in thy memory
Hold fast: “Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar
To the friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel:
Beware of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, bear
It, that the opposer may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend.
This above all:—To thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou can’st not be false to any man.”
[Truths Repeated.]
Secresy is a characteristic of good breeding. A gentleman or lady will never tell in one company what they see or hear in another; much less divert the present company at the expense of the last. In conversation there is generally a tacit reliance that what is said will not be repeated. Tattlers are contemptable.
Whispering in company is an act of unmistakable ill-breeding. It seems to imply that neither the persons whom we do not wish should hear are unworthy our confidence, or that we are speaking improperly of them.
Incessant talkers are very disagreeable companions. Nothing can be more rude than to engross the conversation to yourself, or to take the words, as it were, out of another person’s mouth. All generally like to bear their part in a conversation, and for one to monopolize it, is a tacit acknowledgment that he considers his conversation of more importance, or more interesting than that of others. Long talkers are unmitigated bores.