Lord Chesterfield
Lord Chesterfield
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield KG PCwas a British statesman, and a man of letters, and wit. He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield, and Lady Elizabeth Savile, and known as Lord Stanhope until the death of his father, in 1726. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he subsequently embarked on the Grand Tour of the Continent, to complete his education as a nobleman, by exposure to the cultural legacies of Classical antiquity and...
self denial littles
Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.
education teaching thinking
One should always think of what one is about; when one is learning, one should not think of play; and when one is at play, one should not think of learning.
heart gains merit
Merit and knowledge will not gain hearts, though they will secure them when gained.
justice people ears
Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch their judgments, such as they are.
white way merit
Assurance and intrepidity, under the white banner of seeming modesty, clear the way to merit that would otherwise be discouraged by difficulties.
men long despair
A man who owes a little can clear it off in a very little time, and, if he is a prudent man, will; whereas a man, who by long negligence, owes a great deal, despairs of ever being able to pay, and therefore never looks into his accounts at all.
confidence diffidence
We are as often duped by diffidence as by confidence.
sleep dozing laziness
Six, or at most seven, hours' sleep is, for a constancy, as much as you or anybody else can want; more is only laziness and dozing, and is, I am persuaded, both unwholesome and stupefying.
wit buffoons related
A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of them is the least related to wit.
thinking next would-be
I really think next to the consciousness of doing a good action, that of doing a civil one is the most pleasing; and the epithet which I should covet the most next to that of Aristides, would be that of well-bred.
sarcasm arrows bows
Nothing sharpens the arrow of sarcasm so keenly as the courtesy that polishes it; no reproach is like that we clothe with a smile and present with a bow.
men gentleman ease
The manner of a vulgar man has freedom without ease, and the manner of a gentleman has ease without freedom.
music light play
If you love music hear it; go to operas, concerts, and pay fiddlers to play to you; but I insist upon your neither piping nor fiddling yourself. It puts a gentleman in a very frivolous, contemptible light; brings him into a great deal of bad company; and takes up a great deal of time, which might be much better employed.
men degrees enough
No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.