Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
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Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (22 September 1694 - 24 March 1773) was a British statesman and man of letters.
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[edit] Sourced
- The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one.
- To Solomon Dayrolles (February 16, 1753)
- I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.
- The World, no. 101 (December 5, 1754)
- Unlike my subject will I frame my song,
It shall be witty, and it shan't be long.- Epigram on ("Long") Sir Thomas Robinson
- The dews of the evening most carefully shun —
Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.- Advice to a Lady in Autumn
[edit] Letters to His Son
- Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
- March 10, 1746
- The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
- October 4, 1746
- An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
- October 9, 1746
- 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.
- October 2, 1747 [1]
- Do as you would be done by, is the surest method of pleasing.
- October 9, 1747
- Take the tone of the company you are in.
- October 9, 1747
- Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.
- January 29, 1748
- Speak of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry.
- February 22, 1748
- 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.
- February 22, 1748
- 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.
- July 1, 1748
- 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.
- September 5, 1748
- Without some dissimulation no business can be carried on at all.
- May 22, 1749
- Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds.
- July 20, 1749
- Style is the dress of thoughts.
- November 24, 1749
- Dispatch is the soul of business.
- February 5, 1750
- Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.
- May 8, 1750
- Let blockheads read what blockheads write.
- November 1, 1750
- It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth.
- February 6, 1752
- Every woman is infallibly to be gained by every sort of flattery, and every man by one sort or other.
- March 16, 1752
[edit] Unsourced
- An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions.
- I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.
- Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years, but we don't choose to have it known.
[edit] Misattributed
- A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.
- - Possibly said by G. K. Chesterton
