Quotessence
Home / Authors / Lord Chesterfield
Lord Chesterfield

Lord Chesterfield Quotes

British Statesman

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenPeopleIfsMayWellsShouldCompanyThinkingGivingMannersWorldKnowsMindPleasureCharacterLittlesCareYoungLongAge

Famous Lord Chesterfield Quotes

“One man affirms that he has rode post a hundred miles in six hours; probably it is a lie; but supposing it to be true, what then? Why, he is a very good post-boy; that is all. Another asserts, and probably not without oaths, that he has drunk six or eight bottles of wine at a sitting; out of charity I will believe him a liar; for if I do not, I must think him a beast.”

IfsThinkingMenBelieveLyingHoursBoysSixHundredSittingWineCharityVery GoodEightMilesBeing TrueDrunkPostsBeastLiarsOne ManBottlesBoastOathSupposingBottles Of Wine
Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters
Create image

“The insolent civility of a proud man is, if possible, more shocking than his rudeness could be; because he shows you, by his manner, that he thinks it mere condescension in him; and that his goodness alone bestows upon you what you have no pretense to claim.”

IfsThinkingMenShowsProudGoodnessClaimsMereShockingCivilityPretenseRudenessCondescensionInsolentProud Man
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“Experience only can teach men not to prefer what strikes them for the present moment, to what will have much greater weight with the them hereafter.”

MenMomentsTeachGreaterExperienceWeightStrikesPresent MomentHereafter
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“Young men are as apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are to think themselves sober enough. They look upon spirit to be a much better thing than experience; which they call coldness. They are but half mistaken; for though spirit without experience is dangerous, experience without spirit is languid and ineffective.”

ThinkingMenLooksEnoughYoungSpiritHalfWiseDangerousExperienceYoung ManLook UpMistakenSoberColdness
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“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.”

MenHardWholeCharacterTruthFoolTradeDeceivingWhole Truth
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“Second-rate knowledge, and middling talents, carry a man farther at courts, and in the busy part of the world, than superior knowledge and shining parts.”

MenWorldKnowledgeTalentCourtShiningRateBusySuperiorsSecond Rate
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“I am not of the opinion generally entertained in this country [England], that man lives by Greek and Latin alone; that is, by knowing a great many words of two dead languages, which nobody living knows perfectly, and which are of no use in the common intercourse of life. Useful knowledge, in my opinion, consists of modern languages, history, and geography; some Latin may be thrown into the bargain, in compliance with custom, and for closet amusement.”

KnowsMenMayTwoCountryUseLanguageCommonEducationOpinionKnowledgeKnowingLearningModernEnglandGreekGreat MenThrownLive ByCustomsLatinClosetsAmusementGeographyIntercourseBargainsComplianceUseful KnowledgeModern Languages
Author:Lord Chesterfield
Create image

“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.”

PeopleMenMayYoungHateStrongSidesCompanyEnemyLaughingReflectionWeaknessCriticismSakeTemptationYoung ManYieldVery StrongSuperiorityHate YouRidiculeYour SideExposingInfirmity
Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters
Create image

“A foreign minister, I will maintain it, can never be a good man of business if he is not an agreeable man of pleasure too. Half his business is done by the help of his pleasures: his views are carried on, and perhaps best, and most unsuspectedly, at balls, suppers, assemblies, and parties of pleasure; by intrigues with women, and connections insensibly formed with men, at those unguarded hours of amusement.”

IfsMenDoneHelpingGovernmentHoursPleasureViewsPartyHalfConnectionsBallsMinistersGood ManIntrigueAmusementAssemblySupper
Author:Lord Chesterfield
Create image

“A learned parson, rusting in his cell at Oxford or Cambridge, will reason admirably well upon the nature of man; will profoundly analyze the head, the heart, the reason, the will, the passions, the senses, the sentiments, and all those subdivisions of we know not what ; and yet, unfortunately, he knows nothing of man... He views man as he does colours in Sir Isaac Newton's prism, where only the capital ones are seen; but an experienced dyer knows all their various shades and gradations, together with the result of their several mixtures.”

KnowsMenWellsHeartDoeReasonTogetherPassionResultsViewsLearningIgnoranceExperienceVariousCellsColourSentimentsShadeMixturesNewtonOxfordNature Of ManIsaacCambridgePrisms
Author:Lord Chesterfield
Create image

“The vulgar look upon a man, who is reckoned a fine speaker, as a phenomenon, a supernatural being, and endowed with some peculiargift of Heaven; they stare at him, if he walks in the park, and cry, that is he. You will, I am sure, view him in a juster light, and nulla formidine. You will consider him only as a man of good sense, who adorns common thoughts with the graces of elocution, and the elegancy of style. The miracle will then cease.”

IfsMenLooksLightHeavenWalksViewsCommonGraceStyleCryFineFameMiracleCeaseReputationStaringParksLook UpPhenomenonSpeakersVulgarGood SenseWalks In The ParkSupernatural BeingsElocution
Author:Lord Chesterfield
Create image

“The company of women of fashion will improve your manners, though not your understanding; and that complaisance and politeness, which are so useful in men's company, can only be acquired in women's.”

MenUnderstandingCompanyFashionMen And WomenMannersPoliteness
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“Women of fashion and character--I do not mean absolutely unblemished--are a necessary ingredient in the composition of good company; the attention which they require, and which is always paid them by well-bred men, keeps up politeness, and gives a habit of good-breeding; whereas men, when they live together without the lenitive of women in company, are apt to grow careless, negligent, and rough among one another.”

MenGivingWellsMeanCharacterTogetherGrowsAttentionCompanyFashionHabitMen And WomenPaidRoughIngredientsCompositionCarelessPolitenessBreedingGood CompanyGood Breeding
Author:Lord Chesterfield
Create image

“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.”

IfsMenInterestReturnRevengeInsultComplimentBehaviourBest Revenge
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image

“As kings are begotten and born like other men, it is to be presumed that they are of the human species; and perhaps, had they thesame education, they might prove like other men. But, flattered from their cradles, their hearts are corrupted, and their heads are turned, so that they seem to be a species by themselves.... Flattery cannot be too strong for them; drunk with it from their infancy, like old drinkers, they require dreams.”

MenHumansHeartDreamSeemsMightStrongBornKingsProveSpeciesDrunkFlatteryRoyaltyCradleInfancyFlatteredDrinkersHuman Species
Book:The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author
Create image