If you wish to appear agreeable in society, you must consent to be taught many things which you already know.
Interpretation
To fit in socially, we often pretend to learn what we already understand.
This quote suggests that in social contexts, individuals often have to suppress their true knowledge and opinions to be seen as agreeable. It highlights the tension between personal authenticity and social conformity, suggesting that to maintain harmony in relationships, one may need to feign ignorance or openness to learning, even about concepts they already comprehend.
In practice
During a group discussion about a familiar topic, one might quote this to reflect on the need for adaptability.
There are many kinds of smiles, each having a distinct character. Some announce goodness and sweetness, others betray sarcasm, bitterness and pride; some soften the countenance by their languishing tenderness, others brighten by their spiritual vivacity.
He who seldom speaks, and with one calm well-timed word can strike dumb the loquacious, is a genius or a hero.
Where pride begins, love ceases.
Who in the same given time can produce more than others has vigor; who can produce more and better, has talents; who can produce what none else can, has genius.
When you doubt between words, use the plainest, the commonest, the most idiomatic. Eschew fine words as you would rouge; love simple ones as you would the native roses on your cheek.
Three days of uninterrupted company in a vehicle will make you better acquainted with another, than one hour's conversation with him every day for three years.
I don't have any problem understanding why people flunk out of college or quit their jobs or cheat on each other or break the law or spray-paint walls. A little bit outside of things is where some people feel each other. We do it to replace the frame of family. We do it to erase and remake our origins in their own images. To say, I too was here.
The knife of corruption endangered the life of New York City. The scalpel of the law is making us well again.
In America, the traditional routes to black identity have hardly been normal. Suicide (disappearance by imitation, or willed extinction), violence (hysterical religiosity, crime, armed revolt), and exemplary moral courage; none of these is normal.
What's the difference between the Lone Ranger and God? There really is a Lone Ranger.
Hours later the blank sheet still stared at me, and I beat my fist against the desk in fury and fustration, striking it so hard my hand bled. That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink.
What problem does Pan-Asianism attempt to solve? The problem is how to terminate the sufferings of the Asiatic peoples and how to resist the aggression of the powerful European countries. In a word, Pan-Asianism represents the cause of the oppressed Asiatic peoples.
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