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Quote by Lord Chesterfield

“If originally it was not good for a man to be alone, it is much worse for a sick man to be so; he thinks too much of his distemper, and magnifies it.”

Quote by Lord Chesterfield

Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters

Work

Lord Chesterfield's Letters

Lord Chesterfield's Letters is a compilation of the correspondence between the 4th Earl of Chesterfield and his son. These letters provide a unique glimpse into the social and political landscape of 18th-century England, as well as the personal wisdom and advice that Lord Chesterfield imparted to his son. more

Author

Lord Chesterfield

British statesman known for his epistolary works, which had a profound impact on 18th-century British society. more

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“Vanity, or to call it by a gentler name, the desire of admiration and applause, is, perhaps, the most universal principle of humanactions.... Where that desire is wanting, we are apt to be indifferent, listless, indolent, and inert.... I will own to you, under the secrecy of confession, that my vanity has very often made me take great pains to make many a woman in love with me, if I could, for whose person I would not have given a pinch of snuff.”

Ifs Persons Made Pain Desire Names Given Principles Universal Praise Vanity If I Could Admiration Confession Indifferent Secrecy Applause Snuff

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“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.”

Source: Lord Chesterfield's Letters

“I often wish for the end of the wretched remnant of my life; and that wish is a rational one; but then the innate principle of self-preservation, wisely implanted in our natures, for obvious purposes, opposes that wish, and makes us endeavour to spin out our thread as long as we can, however decayed and rotten it may be.”

May Long Ends Self Age Death Purpose Wish Principles Obvious Rational Old Age Thread Preservation Wretched Innate Rotten Endeavour Self Preservation Remnants

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“All I desire for my own burial, is not to be buried alive; but how or where, I think, must be entirely indifferent to every rational creature.”

Thinking Death Desire My Own Alive Creatures Rational Buried Indifferent Burial

Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters

Source: Lord Chesterfield's Letters

“In the ordinary course of things, how many succeed in society merely by virtue of their manners, while others, however meritorious, fail through lack of them? After all, it's only barbarians who wear uncut precious stones.”

Success Courses Virtue Failing Failure Succeed Ordinary Stones Manners Barbarians Success Failure Precious Stones

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“Business by no means forbids pleasures; on the contrary, they reciprocally season each other; and I will venture to affirm, that no man enjoys either in perfection that does not join both.”

Mean Doe Enjoy Pleasure Perfection Seasons Contrary Venture

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“Half the business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of those with whom one is to transact it.”

Heart Done Half Affection

Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters

Source: Lord Chesterfield's Letters

“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.”

Ifs Men Done Helping Government Hours Pleasure Views Party Half Connections Balls Ministers Good Man Intrigue Amusement Assembly Supper

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“In business be as able as you can, but do not be cunning; cunning is the dark sanctuary of incapacity.”

Able Dark Cunning Sanctuary Incapacity

Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters

Source: Lord Chesterfield's Letters

“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.”