Tuesday, February 19, 2008

15 Tips from George Washington’s Self-Help Manual

From Mental Floss:

1. Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk not on when others stop.

2. Spit not into the fire, nor stoop low before it, neither put your hands into the flames to warm them, nor set your feet upon the fire, especially if there be meat before it.

6. Shew not yourself glad at the misfortune of another though he were your enemy.

7. To one that is your equal, or not much inferior, you are to give the chief place in your lodging, and he who ‘tis offered ought at the first to refuse it, but at the second to accept though not without acknowledging his own unworthiness.

8. Mock not nor jest at anything of importance, break no jests that are sharp, biting, and if you deliver any thing witty and pleasant, abstain from laughing thereat yourself.

11. Be apt not to relate news if you know not the truth thereof. In discoursing of things you have heard name not your author. Always a secret discover not.

12. In company of those of higher quality than you, speak not till you are ask’d a question, then stand upright, put off your hat, and answer in few words.