Remember that psychopaths are often deficient in prudence. With a little luck & guile, you may be able to persuade one to turn his back to you while standing near a navigable waterway. Or he may choose a moment when you are armed & close at hand to confess that he murdered your mother.

If you have gotten a lady in bad trouble, you cannot make amends by inviting her to dinner.

When bargaining with a parrot, on no account offer it freedom in exchange for hushing up. That can only make it hard to enforce the bargain. Offer it a fancier cage.

A quick way to join your lover in hell is to tell your husband that you prefer your lover's company.

It is vulgar to use a penknife for making pens from quills. Refined ladies use them for infanticide, killing their lovers' brides, and improving the credibility of false accusations of attempted rape.