“That mutual forbearance, which more than the exactest agreement, tends to keep alive friendship.”

Placing patient tolerance above complete agreement in sustaining friendship · Letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, September 1820

• Friendship
• Truth

“Depend upon it, the surest means to make great people pleased with you is to put them into good humour with themselves.”

A shrewd observation on vanity, status and social tact · Letter to Derwent Coleridge, August 1830

• Fame
• Humour

“I have now in some measure, to support the part of a man: and, to tell the truth, I feel not unlike an actor who has come upon the stage to speak, with his character but half-learned.”

Capturing the unease of entering adulthood before feeling fully prepared · Letter to Charles Lamb, 16 May 1815

• Identity
• Time