George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax Quotes

MANY Men swallow the being cheated, but no Man could ever endure to chew it.

Hope is generally a wrong Guide, though it is very good Company by the way. It brusheth through Hedge and Ditch till it cometh to a great Leap, and there it is apt to fall and break its Bones.

A Man may so overdo it in looking too far before him, that he may stumble the more for it.

A very great Memory often forgetteth how much Time is lost by repeating things of no Use.

Remember that Children and Fools want every thing because they want Wit to distinguish: and therefore there is no stronger Evidence of a Crazy Understanding, than the making too large a Catalogue of things necessary, when in truth there are so very few things that have a right to be placed in it.

It is Ill-manners to silence a Fool, and Cruelty to let him go on.

In your Clothes avoid too much Gaudy ; do not value your self upon an Imbroidered Gown ; and remember, that a reasonable Word, or an obliging Look, will gain you more respect, than all your fine Trappings.

In this Age, when it is said of a Man, He knows how to live , it may be imply’d he is not very honest.

A Man is to go about his own Business as if he had not a Friend in the World to help him in it.

Men who borrow their Opinions can never repay their Debts. They are Beggars by Nature, and can therefore never get a Stock to grow rich upon.

Our nature hardly allows us to have enough of anything without having too much.

Some Mens Memory is like a Box, where a Man should mingle his Jewels with his old Shoes.

MISPENDING a Man's time is a kind of self-homicide, it is making Life to be of no use.

Most men make little other use of their Speech than to give evidence against their own Understanding.

Weak men are apt to be cruel.