Word: chameleon
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Dates: during 1870-1879
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...have no doubt perceived, I am in a very prosy vein to-day, and I shall cut my letter short, for fear that you will apply to it my remarks about the bore of reading. My advice to you is simply to play the part of a social chameleon. Adapt yourself to the company that you are in. If you can talk their shop-talk, talk it with them. If you cannot talk it, listen to them. But never assert yourself in opposition without real reason. Keep your ears open. Remember as much that you hear as possible...
...himself aloof from the companionship of his classmates; forming none of those friendships which add so much to the pleasure of college life; moving within a charmed circle, the limit to which he has himself described, and inside of which he invites no one to come. Like the famed chameleon, basking in the light of his own brilliancy, but losing these bright tints and assuming one of a duller sort when any one approaches, so our recluse draws about him his mantle of chilling reserve if any one ventures to break in upon his privacy, and with some well-worded...