Top 364 Quotes & Sayings by Lord Chesterfield

An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions. He is neither hot nor timid.

Women especially as to be talked to as below men, and above children.

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

The power of applying attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the sure mark of superior genius.

An honest man may really love a pretty girl, but only an idiot marries her merely because she is pretty.

A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.

The talent of insinuation is more useful than that of persuasion, as everybody is open to insinuation, but scarce any to persuasion.

Firmness of purpose is one of the best instruments of success.

Talk often, but never long; in that case, if you do not please, at least you are sure not to tire your hearers. Pay your own reckoning, but do not treat the whole company; this being one of the few cases in which people do not care to be treated, every one being fully convinced that he has wherewithal to pay.

Absolute power can only be supported by error, ignorance and prejudice.

The manner of your speaking is full as important as the matter, as more people have ears to be tickled than understandings to judge.

Never yield to that temptation, which, to most young men, is very strong, of exposing other people's weaknesses and infirmities, for the sake either of diverting the company, or of showing your own superiority. You may get the laugh on your side by it for the present; but you will make enemies by it for ever; and even those who laugh with you then, will, upon reflection, fear, and consequently hate you.

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.

Little minds mistake little objects for great ones, and lavish away upon the former that time and attention which only the latterdeserve. 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.

Fear invites danger; concealed cowards insult known ones.

Seek always for the best words and the happiest expression you can find.

Women's beauty, like men's wit, is generally fatal to the owners.

May you live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer, or, may you rather die before you cease to be fit to live than after!

Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.

You must be respectable, if you will be respected.

It is hard to say which is the greatest fool: he who tells the whole truth, or he who tells no truth at all. Character is as necessary in business as in trade. No man can deceive often in either.

No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.

Distrust those who love you extremely upon a slight acquaintance, and without any visible reason.

Cultivate the habit of thinking ahead, and of anticipating the necessary and immediate consequences of all your actions.... Likewise in your pleasures, ask yourself what such and such an amusement leads to, as it is essential to have an objective in everything you do. Any pastime that contributes nothing to bodily strength or to mental alertness is a totally ridiculous, not to say, idiotic, pleasure.

You must look into people, as well as at them.

If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.

I would rather have a young fellow too much than too little dressed; the excess on that side will wear off, with a little age and reflection; but if he is negligent at twenty, he will be a sloven at forty, and stink at fifty years old. Dress yourself fine where others are fine, and plain where others are plain; but take care always that your clothes are well made and fit you, for otherwise they will give you a very awkward air.

People hate those who make them feel their own inferiority.

Wrongs are often forgiven; but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.

I have, by long experience, found women to be like Telephus's spear: if one end kills, the other cures.

Whenever a man seeks your advice he generally seeks your praise.

Speak of the moderns without contempt and of the ancients without idolatry; judge them all by their merits, but not by their age

Observe it, the vulgar often laugh, but never smile, whereas well-bred people often smile, and seldom or never laugh. A witty thing never excited laughter, it pleases only the mind and never distorts the countenance.

A judicious reticence is hard to learn, but it is one of the great lessons of life.

Choose the company of your superiors whenever you can have it.

If you can once engage people's pride, love, pity, ambition (or whatever is their prevailing passion) on your side, you need not fear what their reason can do against you.

If you have wit, use it to please and not to hurt: you may shine like the sun in the temperate zones without scorching.

Choose your pleasures for yourself, and do not let them be imposed upon you.

It is often more necessary to conceal contempt than resentment; the former is never forgiven, but the later is sometimes forgotten.

Very ugly or very beautiful women should be flattered on their understanding, and mediocre ones on their beauty.

Prepare yourself for the world, as athletes used to do for their exercises; oil your mind and your manners, to give them the necessary suppleness and flexibility; strength alone will not do.

A man's fortune is frequently decided by his first address. If pleasing, others at once conclude he has merit; but if ungraceful, they decide against him.

Physical ills are the taxes laid upon this wretched life; some are taxed higher, and some lower, but all pay something.

Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least.

Mind not only what people say, but how they say it; and if you have any sagacity, you may discover more truth by your eyes than by your ears. People can say what they will, but they cannot look just as they will; and their looks frequently (reveal) what their words are calculated to conceal.

Without any extraordinary effort of genius, I have discovered that nature was the same three thousand years ago as at present; that men were but men then as well as now; that modes and customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can no more suppose, that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or vegetables were better than they are now.

If a man, notoriously and designedly, insults and affronts you, knock him down; but if he only injures you, your best revenge is to be extremely civil to him in your outward behaviour, though at the same time you counterwork him, and return him the compliment, perhaps with interest.

Women are all so far Machiavellians that they are never either good or bad by halves; their passions are too strong, and their reason too weak, to do anything with moderation.

Silence and reserve suggest latent power. What some men think has more effect than what others say.

Women, then, are only children of a larger growth

Few people do business well, who do nothing else.

To take a wife merely as an agreeable and rational companion, will commonly be found to be a grand mistake.

Polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold.

Almost all men are born with every passion to some extent, but there is hardly a man who has not a dominant passion to which the others are subordinate. Discover this governing passion in every individual; and when you have found the master passion of a man, remember never to trust to him where that passion is concerned.

Nothing sharpens the arrow of sarcasm so keenly as the courtesy that polishes it; no reproach is like that we clothe with a smile and present with a bow.

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.

We are as often duped by diffidence as by confidence.

Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in mixed company; it should only be treated among a very few people of learning, for mutual instruction. It is too awful and respectable a subject to become a familiar one.

To please people is a great step towards persuading them.

I recommend to you to take care of the minutes; for hours will take care of themselves. I am very sure, that many people lose two or three hours every day, by not taking care of the minutes.