When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.
“Thou canst not joke an enemy into a friend; but thou may’st a friend into an enemy.”
“You will be careful, if you are wise; how you touch men’s religion, or credit, or eyes.”
“Reprove your friend in secret and praise him openly.”