Quote Originally Posted by Sir William View Post
Very nice.

One rule I read years ago was "A Gentleman never unintentionally insults anyone." I will admit it took me some additional time to fully understand what this meant.
LOL...I like this one!

It reminds me of Ben Franklin's counsel to John Adams in the HBO Miniseries (John Adams). In the scene, John is very new to politics and rather hot headed and had basically called one of his fellow members of the Congress "a snake on his belly slithering towards the seat of power." Ben Franklin pulls Adams aside in a tavern later that day and provides him some friendly advice about the art of diplomacy. I know I won't get these lines 100% accurate, because I'm going from memory...but it's pretty close.

Franklin: "You publicly insulted him!"

Adams: "Would you rather I had insulted him privately?"

Franklin: "Yes! Perfectly acceptable to insult a man in private! Sometimes, he might even thank you for it after the fact. But when you do it in public, it tends to make them think you are serious!"

This exchange has always given me a laugh!