Conversation is but carving! Give no more to every guest Than he's able to digest. Give him always of the prime, And but little at a time. Carve to all but just enough, Let them neither starve nor stuff, And that you may have your due, Let your neighbor carve for you.

So, naturalists observe, a flea Hath smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bit 'em; And so proceed ad infinitum. Thus every poet, in …

Under an oak, in stormy weather, I joined this rogue and whore together; And none but he who rules the thunder Can put this rogue and whore asunder.

Hobbes clearly proves that every creature Lives in a state of war by nature.

Lift latch, step in, be welcome, Sir, Albeit to see you I'm unglad.

And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid:

I have no small talk and Peel has no manners.