Lord Chesterfield Quotes on Man (27 Quotes)

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.

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.

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

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

If a man has a mind to be thought wiser, and a woman handsomer than they really are, their error is a comfortable one to themselves, and an innocent one with regard to other people

The manner of a vulgar man has freedom without ease the manner of a gentleman, ease without freedom

I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention, and labor, make himself what- ever he pleases, except a great poet.

The only solid and lasting peace between a man and his wife is, doubtless, a separation.

Mankind is made up of inconsistencies, and no man acts invariably up to his predominant character. The wisest man sometimes acts weakly, and the weakest sometimes wisely.

I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive.

Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request.

Men, as well as women, are much oftener led by their hearts than by their understandings.

You must embrace the man you hate, if you cannot be justified in knocking him down

An ignorant man is insignificant and contemptible nobody cares for his company, and he can just be said to live, and that is all

Men will not believe because they will not broaden their minds.

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.

Due attention to the inside of books, and due contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense and his books.

The world can doubtless never be well known by theory practice is absolutely necessary but surely it is of great use to a young man, before he sets out for that country, full of mazes, windings, and turnings, to have at least a general map of it, made by some experienced traveler.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

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. A man must have a good share of wit himself to endure a great share of it in another.

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.

Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough.

Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge into a degree of contempt. They compose at most a merry fellow and a merry fellow was never yet a respectable man.

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

Women, and young men, are very apt to tell what secrets they know, from the vanity of having been trusted

When a man wants your advice he generally wants your praise.

If ever a man and his wife, or a man and his mistress, who pass nights as well as days together, absolutely lay aside all good breeding, their intimacy will soon degenerate into a coarse familiarity, infallibly productive of contempt or disgust.