Lord Chesterfield Quotes - Famous Quotes by Lord Chesterfield
Born: 1694-09-22
Died: 1773-03-24
Lord Chesterfield Biography
A light supper, a good night's sleep, and a fine morning have often made a hero of the same man who by indigestion, a restless night, and a rainy morning, would have proved a coward.
- Lord Chesterfield
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A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least.
- Lord Chesterfield
More quotations on: [ Advice ] ***
An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.
- Lord Chesterfield
More quotations on: [ Wisdom ] ***
Choose your pleasures for yourself, and do not let them be imposed upon you.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Common sense is the best sense I know of.
- Lord Chesterfield
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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.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed.
- Lord Chesterfield
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I find, by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when one suffers, the other sympathizes.
- Lord Chesterfield
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I recommend that you take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.
- Lord Chesterfield
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If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.
- Lord Chesterfield
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In matters of religion and matrimony I never give any advice because I will not have anybody's torments in this world or the next laid to my charge.
- Lord Chesterfield
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In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Know the true value of time snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness no laziness no procrastination never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in advanced age, and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old.
- Lord Chesterfield
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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 facets of them.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Little, vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Most maxim-mongers have preferred the prettiness to the justness of a thought, and the turn to the truth but I have refused myself to everything that my own experience did not justify and confirm.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Most people enjoy the inferiority of their friends.
- Lord Chesterfield
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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.
- Lord Chesterfield
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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.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Ridicule is the best test of truth.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Sex... the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.
- Lord Chesterfield
More quotations on: [ Sex ] ***
That ready wit, which you so partially allow me, ... may create many admirers; but, take my word for it, it makes few friends. It shines and dazzles like the noonday sun, but, like that, too, it is very apt to scorch, and therefore is always feared. The milder morning and evening light and heat of that planet soothe and calm our minds. Never seek for wit; if it present itself, well and good; but even then, let your judgement interpose, and take care that it be not at the expense of anybody.
- Lord Chesterfield
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The heart never grows better by age I fear rather worse always harder. A young liar will be an old one, and a young knave will only be a greater knave as he grows older.
- Lord Chesterfield
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The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
- Lord Chesterfield
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The more one works, the more willing one is to work.
- Lord Chesterfield
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The pleasure is momentary, the position rediculous, and the expense damnable.
- Lord Chesterfield
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There is hardly anybody good for everything, and there is scarcely anybody who is absolutely good for nothing.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Vicious minds abound with anger and revenge are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket and do not pull it out and strike it, merely to show that you have one.
- Lord Chesterfield
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Whenever a man seeks your advice he generally seeks your praise.
- Lord Chesterfield
More quotations on: [ Advice ] ***
Wit is so shining a quality that everybody admires it most people aim at it, all people fear it, and few love it unless in themselves.
- Lord Chesterfield
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