To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld. French author of maxims and memoirs (1613–1680) Conversation, Listening
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and fans fire.
Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?