Alessandro Manzoni

A lawyer must be told things frankly; then it's up to us to muddle them up.

The general practice is for the secret to be confided only to an equally trustworthy friend, the same conditions being imposed on him. And so from trustworthy friend to trustworthy friend the secret goes moving on round that immense chain, until finally it reaches the ears of just the very person or persons whom the first talker had expressly intended it never should reach.

It is one of the advantages of this world that people can hate and be hated without knowing each other.