The etiquette of conversation

• It is necessary to listen to others if one wants to have attention in return.
• Above all things and upon all occasions, avoid speaking of oneself.
• Being over confident and peremptory does very much unfit men for conversation.
• Avoid too excessive pedantic or technical speech (like direct interrogation, the use of imperatives and short answers such as ‘Yes’ and above all ‘No’).
  
• Adapt your conversation to the people with whom you are conversing.
  
• Honorable people must never use a low word in their speech.
  
• Subjects to avoid for men: hunting, hawking, and the War of the Netherlands; for women: fashionable clothes and housewifery. In general, avoid talking about one’s children, telling one’s dreams, or boasting of one’s nobility or riches.
  
• It is a great fault to be too fond of keeping silent.
  
• Don’t talk when you eat, it makes people think you are not enjoying the food.
  
• No one speaks to the king during his public meals unless he addresses him first.
  
• And of course: Whereof one cannot speak, thereof must one be silent.

P.S. I don't know where I got this list, so if anyone reads this and knows where it comes from, please let me know.