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...
ignorance government errors
Absolute power can only be supported by error, ignorance and prejudice.
errors honest
Honest error is to be pitied not ridiculed.
cannot crawl domestic fellow good narrow obliged planet wish
While I can crawl upon this planet I think myself obliged to do what good I can, in my narrow domestic spheres, to my fellow creatures, and to wish them all the good I cannot do
mistake wife found
To take a wife merely as an agreeable and rational companion, will commonly be found to be a grand mistake.
men share endure
A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share in another.
almost man woman
Every man is to be had one way or another, and every woman almost any way
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
choose dead
Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years; but we don't choose to have it known.
learning merely private pull strike wear
Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out and strike it merely to show that you have one
british-statesman learning merely private pull strike wear
Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one.
asked learning merely proclaim pull watch wear
Wear your learning like a watch and do not pull it out merely to show you have it. If you are asked for the time, tell it; but do not proclaim it hourly unasked.
fools holiday idleness refuge weak
Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools
answering concerned letters politeness reasonable returning within
Politeness is as much concerned in answering letters within a reasonable time, as it is in returning a bow, immediately.
full heard nobody since sure
I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh.