Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Quotes

The herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all adoptive; and, in general, I believe it is better that it should be so; as such common prejudices contribute more to order and quiet, than their own separate reasonings would do, uncultivated and unimproved as they are.

I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh.

Abject flattery and indiscriminate assentation degrade, as much as indiscriminate contradiction and noisy debate disgust. But a modest assertion of one’s own opinion, and a complaisant acquiescence in other people’s, preserve dignity.

I foresee, that before the end of this century, the trade of both King and Priest will not be half so good a one as it has been.

[On sex] The pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, the expense damnable.

I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.

Sacrifice to the Graces.

Unlike my subject will I frame my song, It shall be witty, and it shan't be long.

People will no more advance their civility to a bear, than their money to a bankrupt.

The manner is often as important as the matter, sometimes more so.

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.

The idle story of the Pretender's having been introduced in a warming-pan, into the Queen's bed, though as destitute of all probability as of all foundation, has been much more prejudicial to the cause of Jacobitism, than all that Mr. Locke and others have written, to show the unreasonableness and absurdity of the doctrines of indefeasible hereditary right, and unlimited passive obedience.

Cheerful with wisdom, with innocence gay, And calm with your joys gently glide thro' the day. The dews of the evening most carefully shun — Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.

Let this be one invariable rule of your conduct—never to show the least symptom of resentment, which you cannot, to a certain degree, gratify; but always to smile, where you cannot strike.

A proper secrecy is the only mystery of able men; mystery is the only secrecy of weak and cunning ones.