Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Quotes
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If a man, notoriously and designedly, insults and affronts you, knock him down; but if he only injures you, your best revenge is to be extremely civil to him in your outward behaviour, though at the same time you counterwork him, and return him the compliment, perhaps with interest.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
You must embrace the man you hate, if you cannot be justified in knocking him down.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
All ceremonies are in themselves very silly things; but yet, a man of the world should know them. They are the outworks of Mannersand Decency, which would be too often broken in upon, if it were not for that defence, which keeps the enemy at a proper distance.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
I always put these pert jackanapeses out of countenance by looking extremely grave when they expect that I should laugh at their pleasantries; and by saying Well, and so?--as if they had not done, and that the sting were still to come. This disconcerts them, as they have no resources in themselves, and have but one set of jokes to live upon.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Endeavor, as much as you can, to keep company with people above you.... Do not mistake, when I say company above you, and think that I mean with regard to their birth; that is the least consideration; but I mean with regard to their merit, and the light in which the world considers them.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Speak the language of the company you are in; speak it purely, and unlarded with any other.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Give nobly to indigent merit, and do not refuse your charity even to those who have not merit but their misery.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
No man tastes pleasures truly, who does not earn them by previous business; and few people do business well, who do nothing else.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Mind not only what people say, but how they say it; and if you have any sagacity, you may discover more truth by your eyes than by your ears. People can say what they will, but they cannot look just as they will; and their looks frequently (reveal) what their words are calculated to conceal.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Men are much more unwilling to have their weaknesses and their imperfections known than their crimes.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Sculpture and painting are very justly called liberal arts; a lively and strong imagination, together with a just observation, being absolutely necessary to excel in either; which, in my opinion, is by no means the case of music, though called a liberal art, and now in Italy placed even above the other two--a proof of the decline of that country.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
I have seen many people, who, while you are speaking to them, instead of looking at, and attending to you, fix their eyes upon theceiling, or some other part of the room, look out of the window, play with a dog, twirl their snuff-box, or pick their nose. Nothing discovers a little, futile, frivolous mind more than this, and nothing is so offensively ill-bred.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Remember, that when I speak of pleasures I always mean the elegant pleasures of a rational being, and not the brutal ones of a swine. I mean la bonne chère, short of gluttony; wine, infinitely short of drunkenness; play, without the least gaming; and gallantry, without debauchery.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Cardinal Mazarin was a great knave, but no great man; much more cunning than able; scandalously false and dirtily greedy.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Young men are as apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are to think themselves sober enough. They look upon spirit to be a much better thing than experience; which they call coldness. They are but half mistaken; for though spirit without experience is dangerous, experience without spirit is languid and ineffective.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Those whom you can make like themselves better will, I promise you, like you very well.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Pleasure is the rock which most young people split upon; they launch out with crowded sails in quest of it, but without a compassto direct their course, or reason sufficient to steer the vessel; for want of which, pain and shame, instead of pleasure, are the returns of their voyage.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
When you have found out the prevailing passion of any man, remember never to trust him where that passion is concerned.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield