Philip Dormer Stanhope Quotes

In seeking wisdom thou art wise in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.

Take warning then by them: choose your pleasures for yourself, and do not let them be imposed upon you. Follow nature and not fashion: weigh the present enjoyment of your pleasures against the necessary consequences of them, and then let your own common sense determine your choice.

All malt liquors fatten, or at least bloat; and I hope you do not deal much in them.

Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him

Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of
the world is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of them.

There are some occasions in which a man must tell half his secret, in order to conceal the rest

Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.

Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves

In the currency of life, time is the most valuable coin.

Pleasure is the rock which most young people split upon: they launch out with crowded sails in quest of it, but without a compass to 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.

If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away?

Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.

If ever a man and his wife, or a man and his mistress, who pass nights as well as days together, absolutely lay aside all good breeding, their intimacy will soon degenerate into a coarse familiarity, infallibly productive of contempt or disgust.

But a young man should be ambitious to shine, and excel; alert, active, and indefatigable in the means of doing it.