Hammurabi's Law

They call it a law, though no parliament passed it. Hammurabi's Law is a law of behaviour, and it enforces itself.

What makes this law useful is that it is predictive. If you know it, you can see tomorrow morning's mistake tonight. That is as close to prophecy as ordinary life allows.

Watch how a rumour travels in a hostel: it gains one detail per room and loses one truth per floor. By the fourth floor it is unrecognisable, and by dinner it is fact.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. Carry it lightly. Ideas, like umbrellas, are useful only when actually opened.