Bridge Axioms by J.B. Elwell

This is an excerpt from the book "Bridge Axioms and Laws" (1907) by American expert J.B. Elwell. I've excluded the obsolete laws, but the 150 axioms are still relevant today. The original axioms were a huge list that I've taken the liberty of categorizing for easier reading.

Characteristics of Good Players

The best Bridge players are undoubtedly those who can draw inferences quickly and correctly.
A good player can take more chances with the make because of his ability to play the cards properly.
The best players are always patient with the novice.
The silent player, like the dog that bites without growling, gets the best hold on the game.
Promptness in making a conclusion is a mental inspiration as well as an aid to expeditious play.

Characteristics of Bad Players

It is usually the inexperienced player who offers an astonishing amount of gratuitous and un-sought-for advice.
The man who plays Bridge when he is angry is sure to make a mistake.
There is some hope for the player who discovers he can be mistaken.
People who find it easy to decide for friends find it hard to decide for themselves.
People who have lots of advice to give dislike to take any.
The player who interrupts the game to discuss the play should be ostracised from the card room.
Preserve us from the bore who insists on turning conversation into argument.
He who is too busy to consider his faults will never take time to mend them.
Those who think the least have the most time to criticise.
The expertness of the player who is at the pains to announce it may be doubted.
Some people ask for criticism but grow angry if it is adverse.
There are people so absorbed in their own Bridge perfection that it is impossible for them to see merit in anyone else.
No matter how cleverly the cards are managed, the player who underestimates the attention the state of the score demands will unnecessarily lose many a rubber.
A poor player is most a poor player when he knows not that he is a poor player.
He who plays the best talks the least of what he is doing.
It is the critical who are most sensitive to criticism.
There are those who teach one Bridge because they play so badly.
Many people are so busy playing that they don't pause to think how they are playing.
The novice plays before he thinks, the expert thinks before he plays.

Habits to Avoid

It is better not to play at all, than to play without earnestness.
Continued hesitancy and nervous indecision are serious faults in Bridge.
Haste and waste are anti-types in Bridge, as they are in everything.
Human nature tempts mortals to lose more than they can win, sometimes more than they can afford.
Often the result of one hand, which proves nothing, will encourage the tendency toward unsound makes.
Inattention is a companion that will never travel alone.
Sometimes one hasty play will overthrow the results of a carefully planned game.
Hap-hazard play, first from one suit and then from another, will not induce a successful campaign in Bridge.
Tricks heedlessly lost mar the successful enjoyment of Bridge.
That you happily did not lose on a hand, is no palliation for the bad play of which you may have been guilty.
Failure to note the play of a card is not lack of memory, but lack of heed.
Indecision may tell your adversaries exactly what they are most eager to know.

Partnership Etiquette

A successful partnership game must be based on perfect faith and confidence between partners.
Combined play in Bridge is absolutely essential to success.
When you accept a partner, you accept him as he is, not as you might wish him to be.
A trust in your partner's Bridge ability will overcome many obstacles in the way of drawing inferences.
If your partner objects to moving, do not advise him to change.
Do not begin by abusing your partner for the make; you practically say your hand is weak and the situation hopeless.
Your partner will play a better game if he does not fear your adverse criticism.
Do not tell your partner, after seeing all the cards, what he should have done; but think what you would have done in your partner's place.
The chronic complainant is a pessimistic partner and a peevish adversary.
One grain of encouragement is worth a pound of scolding in Bridge.
If you take advantage of your partner's breach of etiquette, you lay yourself open to adverse criticism.
The moment that you show subserviency you admit superiority.
It is more important to inform your partner than to deceive your adversary.
Be generous with your praise of a well played hand.
Do not criticise at all; but—if you must—criticise fairly.

Table Manners

Play the weak hands as interestedly as the strong.
Cultivate uniformity in your style of play, let there be no remarkable haste or hesitation in making or passing, and look as cheerful as possible.
Hesitation and mannerisms in Bridge should be carefully avoided.
Emphasise no play of your own, and show no pleasure or displeasure at any play.
Superiority of skill is shown by the play of the cards, not by mannerisms.
Let your manner be uniformly such that no one can tell from it whether you are winning or losing.
Play Bridge with an eloquent silence; it will command both respect and admiration.
An occasional mistake is preferable to an irritating delay.
Slow play is, more or less, a habit. Its effect amounts to a fault.
When there is an unusual distribution of the cards, remarks are superfluous.
Make no overt remarks during the play which may tend to give the adversaries information.
It is often difficult to refrain from showing pleasure at the accomplishment of a desired purpose, but consider that undue elation is most aggravating to the adversaries.
Post-mortems have their interest and, as a rule, are unmistakably convincing.
Do not venture upon a post-mortem unless you are certain of what the scalpel is going to reveal.
Do not continue to talk of harassing details when another hand is awaiting play.
You gather the cards when your partner takes the first trick.
Do not ask to have the cards placed unless it is solely for your own information.
A player has not the right to have the cards placed after they have been touched for the purpose of gathering them.
It is unfair to revoke purposely, or to make a second revoke in order to conceal the first.
The revoking side cannot win the game on that hand, nor score more than 28 points.
Don't spend time grieving over a lost rubber that should be used in playing the next.
Never call attention to the score after the cards have been dealt.
The occupant of the "high-chair" usually has a monopoly for giving advice.
Make up your mind to do your best with the cards that have been dealt you.
Cards do not carry with them a license to be unfair or rude.

Luck

The soundest play will sometimes lose, and the worst will sometimes win.
Uniform good play, no matter what the luck may be, will ultimately triumph over bad play.
To force luck is to attempt to make it—a most idle task.
Press good fortune while it lasts and do not linger when it refuses to smile.
If you win with invincible cards, your victory is cheap.
Do not ascribe to bad luck the result of bad play.
Whoever is favoured by luck may usually take all manner of chances and succeed.
Luck is a false friend and only stays with you until you are in trouble.
The best way to deal with bad luck is to bear it gracefully.
Many call "bad luck" that which is only neglect to improve opportunity.

Learning

Bridge abounds with situations which must be learned.
To improve your Bridge, theory and practice must go hand in hand.
Bridge is a game of which much is learned through the mistakes made and heeded.
Do not fail to profit in future games by the mistakes that you discover in present play.
When you see clever plays that are new to you, analyse the motives that underlie them.
The necessity for keeping the score constantly in mind grows upon all players as their experience in Bridge increases.
Improvement comes from avoiding other people's mistakes.
Lost tricks yield a crop of experience attained at the expense of rubbers.
Discouragement should make the player more resolute.
It is not so much your Bridge knowledge, but the use you make of it, that counts.
A good way to succeed in Bridge is to observe what is most successful with others.

General Philosophy

One careful game is worth any number of slipshod, careless efforts which are disconcerting to your partner, and the delight of your adversaries.
Memory is simply a matter of observation and practice.
Careful Bridge cultivates memory.
What is done with a hand cannot be undone.
More rubbers are lost by bad makes than by bad plays.
All Bridge penalties should be strictly enforced.

General Strategy

Observation is an art enabling one to discover what other people's play conceals—as well as reveals.
Observation always infers, and one inference will lead to another.
Each card played speaks through its silence, and its language must be understood.
To converse intelligently through the medium of the cards, each must be seen as it falls with eyes that grasp its meaning.
Situations are kaleidoscopic and constant, and success may only be achieved by being perpetually alert to note them.
All time at Bridge should be devoted earnestly to what confronts a player, not to what is past.
Deliberation at the beginning of a hand is permissible and should be encouraged.
General rules are formulated as an assistance to intelligent play.
Many brilliant plays are made in contravention to rules.
Certain laws that govern the technicalities are absolute, but rules in general are not the masters of Bridge.
Rules should be considered second to circumstances and to the fall of the cards.
There are hands in Bridge which may be said to play themselves.

Bidding

Know the requisite number of tricks to be taken, both to win and to save the game.
When you are a game behind, do not hesitate to gamble.
When you are a game to the good, make none but a conservative and sound declaration.
When the score is 18 to nothing against you on the first game, or when you are a game to the good, avoid a doubtful declaration which may enable the adversaries to win the game on your deal.
When the make is passed to you at a score of 24 all on the rubber game, declare your best suit.
The question "What will be the probable make if I pass?" is of great assistance in determining the declaration.
It is remarkable how many passed "no-trumpers" go astray; and the number proves the necessity for more cautious passed makes.
Clubs is a safer declaration, holding four with two honours, than spades, when but one or two are held without an honour.
It is unusually bad play to double when you need only an odd trick to win the game.

The Play of the Hand

Do not overlook the tricks which may be gained by the use of a little card strategy.
When the game is saved, but cannot possibly be won, the seventh trick should be the objective point.
When you cannot reach game, never hazard the odd trick in an attempt to win two odd.
Many times the game can only be won or saved in case the cards lie in a certain position. Assume that the cards are favourably placed and play the hand accordingly.
When the game is seemingly lost, take the one chance of finding in your partner's hand the cards that will save it.
It is surprising how often a desperate expedient will overcome a desperate situation.
No-trump play is an effort to establish and bring in small cards of a long suit.
Many a hand is ruined by careless and hasty play at the first trick.
Do not play your adversary's game for him, lend him no aid in establishing his suit.
Take all your finesses against the player who holds an established suit.
If, as dealer, you wish to make four tricks in a suit with but three in sight, give the adversaries a chance to discard.
When there are tricks that the adversaries must win, try to make this necessity a benefit to your hand.
Rid yourself of any high card which may interrupt the continuation of your partner's suit.
The dealer's main plan of a trump hand should be to exhaust trumps and bring in a suit.
Be cognisant of what you should accomplish and then decide how best to do it.
Pitfalls in the form of false leads, false cards and clever under-play should be dug for your adversaries at every opportunity.
Too much haste in showing ability to ruff in the weak trump hand frequently brings disaster.
When you are reasonably assured of every trick but one, lead your remaining trump.
As a rule avoid an inclination to ruff in the strong trump hand.
Remember that the partner who doubles usually has trump strength, and do not strew his pathway with obstructions by forcing him.
The card led by your partner is a message of his holding in that suit.
Many a rubber is lost which the prompt lead of a high card might have saved.
It is too late to force when the adversaries hold the remaining trumps and an established suit.
Ruffing with a commanding trump rarely loses a trick and often gains one.
The temptation to over-trump should frequently be resisted.
Clear your long suit before you part with your card of re-entry.