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...
attention contempt due inside man proper relation
Due attention to the inside of books, and due contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense and his books.
running people attention
Great merit or great failings will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world. Examine yourself, why you like such and such people and dislike such and such others; and you will find that those different sentiments proceed from very slight causes.
focus genius attention
The power of applying attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the sure mark of superior genius.
people looks attention
You should not only have attention to everything, but a quickness of attention, so as to observe at once all the people in the room--their motions, their looks and their words--and yet without staring at them and seeming to be an observer.
activity constant strong
A constant smirk upon the face, and a whiffing activity of the body, are strong indications of futility.
british-statesman count learned learning people pocket pull seem time watch wear
Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.
care hours time-and-time-management
Take care in your minutes, and the hours will take care of themselves.
company tone
Take the tone of the company that you are in
apt men secrets trusted vanity
Women, and young men, are very apt to tell what secrets they know, from the vanity of having been trusted
almost man woman
Every man is to be had one way or another, and every woman almost any way
ancestry breeding brute good scholar soldier
The scholar without good breeding is a nitpicker; the philosopher a cynic; the soldier a brute and everyone else disagreeable.
advice seldom
Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always want it the least.
literature moderns speak
Speak of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry.
cannot great mind receive weak
A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones