Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield /Lord Chesterfield/ quotes Born: 09/22/1694 Died: 03/24/1773 Country: united_kingdom

• Be your character what it will, it will be known; and nobody will take it upon your word. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [character/willpower/willpower/willpower]
• Any affectation whatsoever in dress implies, in my mind, a flaw in the understanding. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [mind/understanding]
• There is a sort of veteran woman of condition, who, having lived always in the grand monde, and having possibly had some gallantries, together with the experience of five and twenty or thirty years, form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him. Wherever you go, make some of those women your friends; which a very little matter will do. Ask their advice, tell them your doubts or difficulties as to your behavior; but take great care not to drop one word of their experience; for experience implies age, and the suspicion of age, no woman, let her be ever so old, ever forgives. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [condition/experience/form/women]
• Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield)
• Take the tone of the company you are in. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [take/company]
• Character must be kept bright as well as clean. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [character]
• For my own part, I would rather be in company with a dead man than with an absent one; for if the dead man gives me no pleasure, at least he shows me no contempt; whereas the absent one, silently indeed, but very plainly, tells me that he does not think me worth his attention. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [company/pleasure/contempt/think]
• Custom has made dancing sometimes necessary for a young man; therefore mind it while you learn it, that you may learn to do it well, and not be ridiculous, though in a ridiculous act. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [dancing/mind]
• Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [people]
• Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same time let them feel, the steadiness of your resentment. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [enemies/time]
• You must look into people, as well as at them. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [look/people]
• No man tastes pleasures truly, who does not earn them by previous business; and few people do business well, who do nothing else. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [business/people/business]
• Buy good books, and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are not blockheads. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [books/books]
• The difference between a man of sense and a fop is that the fop values himself upon his dress; and the man of sense laughs at it, at the same time he knows he must not neglect it. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [difference/time]
• As fathers commonly go, it is seldom a misfortune to be fatherless; and considering the general run of sons, as seldom a misfortune to be childless. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [misfortune/misfortune]
• Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield)
• Women who are either indisputably beautiful, or indisputably ugly, are best flattered upon the score of their understandings; but those who are in a state of mediocrity are best flattered upon their beauty, or at least their graces: for every woman who is not absolutely ugly, thinks herself handsome. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [women/ugly/state/beauty]
• When a person is in fashion, all they do is right. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [fashion/right]
• Whoever is admitted or sought for, in company, upon any other account than that of his merit and manners, is never respected there, but only made use of. We will have such-a-one, for he sings prettily; we will invite such-a-one to a ball, for he dances well; we will have such-a-one at supper, for he is always joking and laughing; we will ask another because he plays deep at all games, or because he can drink a great deal. These are all vilifying distinctions, mortifying preferences, and exclude all ideas of esteem and regard. Whoever is had (as it is called) in company for the sake of any one thing singly, is singly that thing, and will never be considered in any other light; consequently never respected, let his merits be what they will. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [company/account/etiquette/willpower]
• Little, vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [revenge/feeling/pleasure/enemies]
• Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield)
• History is but a confused heap of facts. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [facts]
• 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. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [character/genius]
• Men, as well as women, are much oftener led by their hearts than by their understandings. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [men/women]
• Most people enjoy the inferiority of their best friends. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [people]
• Great merit, or great failings, will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked in the general run of the world. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [willpower/willpower]
• Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever. It implies a discovery of weakness, which we are more careful to conceal than a crime. Many a man will confess his crimes to a friend; but I never knew a man that would tell his silly weaknesses to his most intimate one. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [contempt/pride/weakness/more]
• Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [etiquette/knowledge]
• Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield)
• Prepare yourself for the world, as the athletes used to do for their exercise; oil your mind and your manners, to give them the necessary suppleness and flexibility; strength alone will not do. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [exercise/mind/etiquette/give]
• Ceremony is necessary as the outwork and defense of manners. (Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield) [defense/etiquette]

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