Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles

Which is just to say, be careful when choosing what you’re proud of—because the world has every intention of using it against you.

Place No Trust in Appearances.

It is a lovely oddity of human nature that a person is more inclined to interrupt two people in conversation than one person alone with a book, even if it is a foolish romance:

but when a person loses the ability to take pleasure in the mundane—in the cigarette on the stoop or the gingersnap in the bath—she has probably put herself in unnecessary danger.

As a quick aside, let me observe that in moments of high emotion—whether they’re triggered by anger or envy, humiliation or resentment—if the next thing you’re going to say makes you feel better, then it’s probably the wrong thing to say.

—If we only fell in love with people who were perfect for us, he said, then there wouldn’t be so much fuss about love in the first place.