Long-winded opening: good manners, compared with more weighty virtues, and why they are no less useful to a gentleman
Annoying behavior defined simply in terms of sensual suffering
Disgusting things offend the senses and even the imagination and desire
Galateo and Count Ricciardo: an anecdote on the importance of politeness
Returning to the subject of offensive and gauche habits
Ways we enjoy one another, and irk one another, especially in conversation
Petulant and pompous and self-serving people
How to spoil a conversation
On those prim and ladylike men
The don'ts of conversation
Keep your dreams to yourself
Liars and braggarts and the falsely modest
Ceremonies, especially empty compliments, discussed
Three kinds of compliments: why not to extend them
Compliments done for vanity and out of duty, and a warning about adulation
Why imported Spanish affectation is particularly vapid
Other spoken sources of annoyance: slander, contradiction, reprimanding, etc.
The risks of mockery and ridicule and vituperative wit
Comic talent: those who are funny and those who try to be
Some practical tips on storytelling
Eloquence and the choice of language
More on the fine art of conversation
The verbose, the interrupters, the taciturn
Anecdote of the sculptor, the rule, and a lady named reason
The aesthetics of human language and human actions
Why hurting my senses hurts my mind
Grace, decorum, and restraint, and a special word on fashion sense
Bad table manners and getting knee-walking drunk
The myriad ways to be rude, and an abrupt conclusion..
