Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

"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."

"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."

"The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one."

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

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

"At twelve you may walk, for at this time o' the year, The sun like your wit, is as mild, as 'tis clear: But mark in the meadows the ruin of Time; Take the hint, and let life be improv'd in its prime."

"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."

"Then in chat, or at play, with a dance, or a song, Let the night, like the day, pass with pleasure along. All cares, but of love, banish far from your mind; And those you may end, when you please to be kind."

"I see that you are in fears again from your White Boys, and have destroyed a good many of them; but I believe, that if the military force had killed half as many landlords, it would have contributed more effectually to restore quiet. The poor people in Ireland are used worse than negroes by their Lords and Masters, and their Deputies of Deputies of Deputies. For there is a sentiment in every human breast that asserts man's natural right to liberty and good usage, and that will, and ought to rebel when oppressed and provoked to a certain degree."

"Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company."

"Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years; but we don't choose to have it known."

"Marriage is the cure of love, and friendship the cure of marriage."

"The nation looked upon him as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificancy and an earldom."

"He adorned whatever subject he either spoke or wrote upon, by the most splendid eloquence."

"Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so."

"Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."

"The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet."

"An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult."

"There is time enough for everything, in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time."

"I really know nothing more criminal, more mean, and more ridiculous than lying. It is the production either of malice, cowardice, or vanity; and generally misses of its aim in every one of these views; for lies are always detected, sooner or later."

"Courts and camps are the only places to learn the world in."

"The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it."

"Do as you would be done by, is the surest method of pleasing."

"Take the tone of the company you are in."

"I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow, who used to say, "Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves.""

"The young leading the young, is like the blind leading the blind; “they will both fall into the ditch.”"

"I recommend you to take care of the minutes: for hours will take care of themselves."

"Patience, to hear frivolous, impertinent, and unreasonable applications: with address enough to refuse, without offending; or, by your manner of granting, to double the obligation: dexterity enough to conceal a truth, without telling a lie: sagacity enough to read other people’s countenances: and serenity enough not to let them discover anything by yours; a seeming frankness, with a real reserve. These are the rudiments of a politician; the world must be your grammar."

"Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least."

"Speak of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry."

"Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. 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."

"Sacrifice to the Graces."

"In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so ill-bred, as audible laughter."

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

"The characteristic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors without insolence, and with his superiors with respect and with ease."

"Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value."

"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."

"Little minds mistake little objects for great ones, and lavish away upon the former that time and attention which only the latter deserve. To such mistakes we owe the numerous and frivolous tribe of insect-mongers, shell-mongers, and pursuers and driers of butterflies, etc. The strong mind distinguishes, not only between the useful and the useless, but likewise between the useful and the curious."

"A strong mind sees things in their true proportions; a weak one views them through a magnifying medium, which, like the microscope, makes an elephant of a flea: magnifies all little objects, but cannot receive great ones."

"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."

"Without some dissimulation no business can be carried on at all."

"I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify, the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual."

"Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds."

"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."

"Style is the dress of thoughts."

"Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but two passions, vanity and love; these are their universal characteristics."

"We must not draw general conclusions from certain particular principles, though, in the main, true ones. We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it. No. We are complicated machines: and though we have one main-spring, that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion."

"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."

"Dispatch is the soul of business."

"I wish to God that you had as much pleasure in following my advice, as I have in giving it to you."