Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield - Young Quotes

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The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse, always harder. A young liar will be an old one, and a young knave will only be a greater knave as he grows older.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in an advanced age; and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Custom has made dancing sometimes necessary for a young man; therefore mind it while you learn it, that you may learn to do it well, and not be ridiculous, though in a ridiculous act.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
The young leading the young, is like the blind leading the blind; they will both fall into the ditch.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Never yield to that temptation, which, to most young men, is very strong, of exposing other people's weaknesses and infirmities, for the sake either of diverting the company, or of showing your own superiority. You may get the laugh on your side by it for the present; but you will make enemies by it for ever; and even those who laugh with you then, will, upon reflection, fear, and consequently hate you.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
I would rather have a young fellow too much than too little dressed; the excess on that side will wear off, with a little age and reflection; but if he is negligent at twenty, he will be a sloven at forty, and stink at fifty years old. Dress yourself fine where others are fine, and plain where others are plain; but take care always that your clothes are well made and fit you, for otherwise they will give you a very awkward air.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
The world can doubtless never be well known by theory: practice is absolutely necessary; but surely it is of great use to a young man, before he sets out for that country, full of mazes, windings, and turnings, to have at least a general map of it, made by some experienced traveler.

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
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
A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really be so or not.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
There is a sort of veteran women of condition, who, having lived always in the grand mode, and having possibly had some gallantries, together with the experience of five and twenty or thirty years, form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield