“Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it. Coquetry is the thorn that guards the rose—easily trimmed off when once plucked. Flirtation is like the slime on water-plants, making them hard to handle, and when caught, only to be cherished in slimy waters.”

— Donald Grant Mitchell , book Reveries of a Bachelor

Reveries of a Bachelor, or a Book of the Heart (1850), p. 78.

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Donald Grant Mitchell 4

American writer 1822–1908

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