Tact: the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.

Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes.

Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.

reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with ones own

Reading to the mind is what exercise is to the body.

Thinking is an action,

Ah! what caution must men use With those who look not at the deed alone, But spy into the thoughts with subtle skill!

A man who possesses the art of correct reading will … instinctively and immediately perceive everything which in his opinion is worth permanently remembering, either because it is suited to his purpose or generally worth knowing … The art of reading, as of learning, is this: … to retain the essential, to forget the nonessential.

It is tact that is golden, not silence.

The art of reading is to skip judiciously.

Silence is not always tact and it is tact that is golden, not silence.

The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye. . . . The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. — J. Bronowski