Lord Chesterfield Quotes

Nothing is more dissimilar than natural and acquired politeness. The first consists in a willing abnegation of self; the second in a compelled recollection of others.

Ugliness is a letter of credit for some special purposes.

There is not a more prudent maxim, than to live with one's enemies as if they may one day become one's friends; as it commonly happens, sooner or later, in the vicissitudes of political affairs.

There is hardly any place or any company where you may not gain knowledge, if you please; almost everybody knows some one thing, and is glad to talk about that one thing.

There is hardly anybody good for everything, and there is scarcely anybody who is absolutely good for nothing.

Every man is to be had one way or another and every woman almost anyway.

People hate who makes you feel one's inferiority.

Dispatch is the soul of business.

Real friendship is a slow grower.

Deserve a great deal, and you shall have a great deal; deserve little, and you shall have but a little; and be good for nothing atall, and I assure you, you shall have nothing at all.

Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different.

Should you be unfortunate enough to have vices, you may, to a certain degree, even dignify them by a strict observance of decorum;at least they will lose something of their natural turpitude.

The most familiar and intimate habitudes, connections, friendships, require a degree of good-breeding both to preserve and cement them.

Everything is worth seeing once, and the more one sees the less one either wonders or admires.

A vulgar man is captious and jealous; eager and impetuous about trifles. He suspects himself to be slighted, and thinks everything that is said meant at him.

All I can say, in answer to this kind queries [of friends] is that I have not the distemper called the Plague; but that I have allthe plagues of old age, and of a shattered carcase.

The permanency of most friendships depends upon the continuity of good fortune.

Business by no means forbids pleasures; on the contrary, they reciprocally season each other; and I will venture to affirm, that no man enjoys either in perfection that does not join both.

Ties of blood are not always ties of friendship; but friendship founded on merit, on esteem, and on mutual trust, becomes more vital and more tender when strengthened by the ties of blood.

An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions.

Cautiously avoid speaking of the domestic affairs either of yourself, or of other people. Yours are nothing to them but tedious gossip; and theirs are nothing to you.

When you have found out the prevailing passion of any man, remember never to trust him where that passion is concerned.

Enjoy pleasures, but let them be your own, and then you will taste them.

Since attaining the full use of my reason no one has ever heard me laugh.

To know a little of anything gives neither satisfaction nor credit, but often brings disgrace or ridicule.

Singularity is only pardonable in old age and retirement; I may now be as singular as I please, but you may not.

I am in the pitiable situation of feeling all the force of temptation without having the strength to succumb to it.

When a man is once in fashion, all he does is right.

The possibility of remedying imprudent actions is commonly an inducement to commit them.

A certain degree of fear produces the same effects as rashness.

I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow [perhaps William Lowndes], who used to say, 'Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves.

Our self-love is mortified, when we think our opinions, and even our tastes, customs, and dresses, either arraigned or condemned;as, on the contrary, it is tickled and flattered by approbation.

Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute power for the time being, are always the destroyers of it too; by frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it.

It is to be presumed, that a man of common sense, who does not desire to please, desires nothing at all; since he must know that he cannot obtain anything without it.

A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of them is the least related to wit.

Always make the best of the best, and never make bad worse.

Advice is seldom welcome and those who want it the most always like it the least.

Patience is a most necessary quality for business many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request.

You must look into people as well as at them.

Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

When one is learning one should not think of play and when one is at play one should not think of learning.

There is time enough for everything in the course of the day if you do but one thing at once but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time.

Never hold any one by the button or the hand in order to be heard out for if people are unwilling to hear you you had better hold your tongue than them.

The manner of your speaking is full as important as the matter as more people have ears to be tickled than understandings to judge.

When a man is once in fashion all he does is right.

Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance and without any viable reason.

Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

Pleasure is a reciprocal no one feels it who does not at the same time give it. To be pleased one must please.

Idleness is the holiday of fools.

We are in truth more than a half of what we are by imitation.