Hints Toward an Essay on Conversation (c. 1713) [ Practices ]
… upon which, there seems so much to be said. Most things pursued by men for the happiness of publick or private life, our wit or folly have so refined, that they seldom subsist but in idea; a true friend, a good marriage, a perfect form of government, with some others, require so many ingredients, so good in their several kinds, and so much niceness in mixing them, that … it may be regulated, because it requires few talents to which most men are not born, or at least may not acquire, without any great genius or study. For, nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in …
Conversation | Audience
Anthology