Lord Chesterfield Quotes
The power of applying attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the sure mark of superior genius.
A man who cannot command his temper, his attention, and his countenance should not think of being a man of business.
Speak the language of the company you are in; speak it purely, and unlarded with any other.
Let it be your maxim through life, to know all you can know, yourself; and never to trust implicitly to the information of others.
Words are the dress of thoughts; which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt than your person should.
Experience only can teach men not to prefer what strikes them for the present moment, to what will have much greater weight with the them hereafter.
Half the business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of those with whom one is to transact it.
Never write down your speeches beforehand; if you do, you may perhaps be a good declaimer, but will never be a debater.
We are hardly ever grateful for a fine clock or watch when it goes right, and we pay attention to it only when it falters, for then we are caught by surprise. It ought to be the other way about.
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.
Many people come into company full of what they intend to say in it themselves, without the least regard to others; and thus charged up to the muzzle are resolved to let it off at any rate.
Few fathers care much for their sons, or at least, most of them care more for their money. Of those who really love their sons, few know how to do it.
Assurance and intrepidity, under the white banner of seeming modesty, clear the way for merit, that would otherwise be discouraged by difficulties...
A cheerful, easy, open countenance will make fools think you a good-natured man, and make designing men think you an undesigning one.
If originally it was not good for a man to be alone, it is much worse for a sick man to be so; he thinks too much of his distemper, and magnifies it.
Men are much more unwilling to have their weaknesses and their imperfections known than their crimes.
A judicious reticence is hard to learn, but it is one of the great lessons of life.
Very ugly or very beautiful women should be flattered on their understanding, and mediocre ones on their beauty.
Women are all so far Machiavellians that they are never either good or bad by halves; their passions are too strong, and their reason too weak, to do anything with moderation.
Silence and reserve suggest latent power. What some men think has more effect than what others say.
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.
I have, by long experience, found women to be like Telephus's spear: if one end kills, the other cures.
A man's fortune is frequently decided by his first address. If pleasing, others at once conclude he has merit; but if ungraceful, they decide against him.
No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.
All I desire for my own burial, is not to be buried alive; but how or where, I think, must be entirely indifferent to every rational creature.
You will find that reason, which always ought to direct mankind, seldom does; but that passions and weaknesses commonly usurp itsseat, and rule in its stead.
I love every-day senses, every-day wit and entertainment; a man who is only good on holidays, is good for very little.
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.
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.
Smooth your way to the head through the heart. The way of reason is a good one: but it is commonly something longer, and perhapsnot so sure.
It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in. One yawns, one procrastinates, one can do it when one will, and therefore one seldom does it at all.
Remember that whatever knowledge you do not solidly lay the foundation of before you are eighteen, you will never be master of while you breathe.
Few men are of one plain, decided color; most are mixed, shaded, and blended; and vary as much, from different situations, as changeable silks do from different lights.
There is time enough for everything in the course of the day if you do but one thing once; but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time.
The manner of a vulgar man has freedom without ease, and the manner of a gentleman has ease without freedom.
Wear your knowledge like your watch - in you pocket - and don't pull it out just for show.
The company of women of fashion will improve your manners, though not your understanding; and that complaisance and politeness, which are so useful in men's company, can only be acquired in women's.
Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch their judgments, such as they are.
Remember that the wit, humour, and jokes of most mixed companies are local. They thrive in that particular soil, but will not often bear transplanting.
Women have, in general, but ne object, which is their beauty; upon which, scarce any flattery is too gross for them to swallow.
Cottages have them (falsehood and dissimulation) as well as courts, only with worse manners.
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.
