A rumor is like a check--never endorse it till you're sure it's genuine.

Tact, the kind of tact you should cultivate, is not a form of deception or make-believe, but a cultivated taste which gives fine perception in seeing and doing what is best under all circumstances. There is nothing which will so readily bring you into favor, or disarm an opponent, as the right use of tact.

Be an earnest student of yourself. Study your leading desires and tendencies.

Discreetly keep most of your radical opinions to yourself. When with people be a listener a large part of the time. Be considerate in every word and act, and resist the tendency to say clever things. The best evidence of your culture is the tone and temper of your conversation.

There are many fine things which you mean to do some day, under what you think will be more favorable circumstances. But the only time that is yours is the present.

The principal object of your reading should be for the acquisition of useful knowledge , and the strengthening, refining, and ennobling of your character.

Thought rules mankind.