It has been said somewhere that it would be well for talkative persons to count twenty, or to go over the alphabet, before they let fall the observation that trembles on their lips.

The non-talker has no taste for such an unintellectual exercise.

At the same time he must not hesitate too long, for, of course, it is to his advantage to introduce the subject.
He ought to think out a topic of which his neighbor will not be able to make very much.

To begin on the fall of snow, or the number of tons of turkeys consumed on Christmas Day, as stated in the _Daily Telegraph_, is to deserve your fate.

If you are at a dinner-party of men only, take your host aside, and in a few well-considered sentences find out from him what kind of men you are to sit between during dinner.