In the little affairs of human life, whether social or national, I have found that courtesies, kindness, and small attentions are often received with more grateful feelings than those of a more substantial character. We often appreciate more the picayunes than the double eagles, in the currency of social and human life.
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Notes from Wikiquote
[later reported as] The courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest to the grateful and appreciating heart . It is the picayune compliments which are the most appreciating ; far more than the double ones which we sometimes pay. | Quoted in William Mathews,Getting on in the World; or Hints on Success in Life(1872).