eason recognise no difference of persons."
And when you wish to disabuse the minds of those entrusted to your
guidance of any thing which you are convinced is erroneous, do not
attempt to do so by unmeasured condemnation. It is seldom that a secure
answer is given to any theory, or system, except by one who exhausts, and
lays before you, the good in it.

* * * * *

Let not your forgiveness be of that kind which may almost be set down as
forgetfulness.

* * * * *

You must not always expect to hear a good explanation of a man's reason
for his conduct. In the first place, he does not carry such things about
with him in a producible shape; some of them he has probably forgotten,
although their influence may still remain strongly upon his mind; and
such as he does give, are likely to be those which he thinks will have
most weight with the person to whom he is speaking.

* * * * *

In giving way to selfish persons, remember that you cannot sacrifice
yourself alone. Any relation in which you may be placed to them,
especially if you are the superior, is not a thing that concerns you
only; but is, as it were, a trust for society in general.

* * * * *

It is hard to judge about quarrels, for the points on which they openly
break out have often no more to do with the real grounds of difference
than the place of a battle with the cause of the war. Many a quarrel,
after running for a long time under ground, gushes forth with a vehemence
which seems unaccountable; and it is difficult to divine what lands it
has passed through in its hidden course. Any particular outbreak cannot
safely be taken as an index of the general conduct of the parties towards
each other.

* * * * *

Playfulness is a good means of softening social distances. A stiff,
grave, man is always in danger of being feared too much. On the other
hand, as the self-love of many people is suspicious in the extreme, you
must expect that your most innocent playfulness will often be mistaken
for ridicule.

* * * * *

It is a duty not to allow yourself to think of any living man, still less
to treat him, as if your hopes of his amendment were utterly dead and
gone.

* * * * *

You must not be much surprised at the ingratitude of t