“The truest way to understand conversation, is to know
the faults and errors to which it is subject, and from thence every man to form
maxims to himself whereby it may be regulated, because it requireth few talents
to which most men are not born, or at least may not acquire without any great
genius or study. For nature hath left every man a capacity of being agreeable,
though not of shining in company; and there are an hundred men sufficiently
qualified for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half
an hour, are not so much as tolerable.
“I was prompted to write my thoughts upon this subject
by mere indignation, to reflect that so useful and innocent a pleasure, so
fitted for every period and condition of life, and so much in all men’s power,
should be so much neglected and abused.” — Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan
Swift (1667–1745), “Hints Towards an Essay on Conversation,” originally
published in 1709, reprinted in English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay
(The Harvard Classics, 1909-1914)
No comments:
Post a Comment