138. Lord Chesterfield's Advice to His Son

This piece of writing was the original inspiration for me to write this work. It is a little dated now but the advice is still sound. Here is what he has to say :

Talk often but never long.
Adapt your conversation to the people with whom you are conversing.
Tell stories seldom, and absolutely never but where they are very apt and vert short. Never hold anybody by the button or by the hand in order to be heard out.
Avoid in mixed companies argumentative conversation.
Avoid speaking of yourself.
Always look people in the face when you speak to them.
Mimicry, neither practice it yourself nor applaud it in others.
Swearing is as silly and as illiberal as it is wicked.
Have a frank open and ingenious exterior with a prudent and reserved interior.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lord_chesterfield.html
http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=88

54. Loving Yourself and Others

You want to treat those you love with love. To be like that you need to be a fight-free person, a peaceful warrior. If you love yourself you will not allow yourself to :
a. become overweight.
b. become anorexic or bulimic.
c. become addicted to alcohol,drugs, sex, tobacco, t.v. etc.
d. become the victim of guilt, worry or anger (your own or others').
e. become involved in fights, arguments, conflicts wars etc.

If you love yourself then you will treat yourself with respect. Among other things, this means that you will not allow others to lure you into fights. When you do this, they will realise that you think too much of yourself to waste precious moments of your life in the pain agony and distress caused by fighting.

Live your life as an example of someone who is deeply peaceful and who cannot be bought and sold emotionally at the whim of others or through their lack of consideration.

Learn to avoid leaving the keyboard of your internal computer in the street where anyone can randomly push your buttons for fun.