Lord Chesterfield Quotes (132 Quotes)

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

There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

If you would convince others, seem open to conviction yourself.

You must look into people as well as at them.

There is a sort of veteran woman of condition, who, having lived always in the grand monde, and having possibly had some gallantries, together with the experience of five and twenty or thirty years, form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him. Wherever you go, make some of those women your friends which a very little matter will do. Ask their advice, tell them your doubts or difficulties as to your behavior but take great care not to drop one word of their experience for experience implies age, and the suspicion of age, no woman, let her be ever so old, ever forgives.

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 merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.

Ceremony is necessary as the outwork and defense of manners.

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.

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.

The more one works, the more willing one is to work.

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

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

The rich are always advising the poor, but the poor seldom return the compliment.

Good humor is the health of the soul, sadness is its poison.

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

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

To have frequent recourse to narrative betrays great want of imagination.

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

Being pretty on the inside means you don't hit your brother and you eat all your peas - that's what my grandma taught me.

Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds.

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

It is commonly said that ridicule is the best test of truth for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.

Whoever is admitted or sought for, in company, upon any other account than that of his merit and manners, is never respected there, but only made use of. We will have such-a-one, for he sings prettily we will invite such-a-one to a ball, for he dances well we will have such-a-one at supper, for he is always joking and laughing we will ask another because he plays deep at all games, or because he can drink a great deal. These are all vilifying distinctions, mortifying preferences, and exclude all ideas of esteem and regard. Whoever is had (as it is called) in company for the sake of any one thing singly, is singly that thing, and will never be considered in any other light consequently never respected, let his merits be what they will.

Remember, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through the world, with either your conscience or your honor unwounded.

History is but a confused heap of facts.

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

If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.

If you can once engage people's pride, love, pity, ambition on your side, you need not fear what their reason can do against you.

Swift speedy time, feathered with flying hours, Dissolves the beauty of the fairest brow.

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

The less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in.

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.

Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same time let them feel, the steadiness of your resentment.

Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which they accuse the courts.

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.

He makes people pleased with him by making them first pleased with themselves.

Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.

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.

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

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

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.

Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults.

Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will be clear.

Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, perseverance in exercise, adaptation of dress to the variations of climate, simple and nutritious aliment, and temperance in all things are necessary branches of the regimen of health.

Never hold anyone by the button or the hand in order to be heard out for if people are unwilling to hear you, you had better hold your tongue than them.

Inferiority is what you enjoy in your best friends.

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.

A wise man will live as much within his wit as within his income.