from The Art of Worldly Wisdom Do not listen to yourself. cxli Do not listen to yourself.
You cannot please yourself without pleasing others, and contempt is generally a punishment for complacency. The attention we pay to ourselves should probably be paid to others as well. Talking about oneself and listening to oneself at the same time cannot work. If it is foolish to talk to oneself when alone, it would be doubly foolish to listen to oneself in the presence of others. The weakness of a great person is that “as I said before” and “eh?” repeatedly as they speak, which confuses the listeners. They demand applause and flattery with every sentence, straining the patience of the wise. Also, pompous people speak in echoes, and their speech only staggers with the help of stilts, so every word requires a silly “Bravo! requires the cheering of the
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