C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Finesse
Sure never to o’ershoot, but just to hit.
Finesse is the best adaptation of means to circumstances.
Grant graciously what you cannot refuse safely, and conciliate those you cannot conquer.
The moment one begins to solder right and wrong together, one’s conscience becomes like a piece of plated goods.
A man who knows the world will not only make the most of everything he does know, but of many things he does not know, and will gain more credit by his adroit mode of hiding his ignorance than the pedant by his awkward attempt to exhibit his erudition.
“There is no difficulty,” says the steward of Molière’s miser, “in giving a fine dinner with plenty of money; the really great cook is he who can set out a banquet with no money at all.”