Lord Chesterfield

Take the tone of the company you are in.

The vulgar only laugh, but never smile; whereas well-bred people often smile, but seldom laugh.

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

Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way through the world.

Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed.

A mans own good breeding is the best security against other peoples ill manners.

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

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

A joker is near akin to a buffoon and neither of them is the least related to wit.

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

Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least.

Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.

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.

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination; Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

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

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.

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

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no delay, no procrastination; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

Smooth your way to the head, through the heart. The way of reason is a good one; but it is commonly something longer, and perhaps not so sure.

Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

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.

Physical ills are the taxes laid upon this wretched life some are taxed higher and some lower but all pay something.

Inferiority is what you enjoy in your best friends.

A novel must be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat.

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

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

I find, by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when one suffers, the other sympathizes.

Politicians neither love nor hate. Interest, not sentiment, directs them.

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

Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not at first wear the mask of some virtue.

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

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.

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.

Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.

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

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

Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.

If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.

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

Character must be kept bright as well as clean.

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

A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of them is the least related to wit.

The scholar without good breeding is a pedant the philosopher a cynic.

The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse, always harder. A young liar will be an old one, and a young knave will only be a greater knave as he grows older.

Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance and without any visible reason.

The manner of your speaking is full as important as the matter, as more people have ears to be tickled than understandings to judge.

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

Sex: the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.

Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.

As fathers commonly go, it is seldom a misfortune to be fatherless; and considering the general run of sons, as seldom a misfortune to be childless.

Ceremony is necessary as the outwork and defense of manners.

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

When a person is in fashion, all they do is right.

A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones.

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

Little vicious minds abound with anger and revenge and are incapable of feeling te pleasure of forgiving their enemies.

A certain degree of ceremony is a necessary outwork of manners as well as of religion it keeps the forward and petulant at a proper distance and is a very small restraint to the sensible and to the well bred part of the world.

Little vicious minds abound with anger and revenge and are incapable of feeling te pleasure of forgiving their enemies.

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

In those days he was wiser than he is now - he used frequently to take my advice.

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

Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way in the world without them it is like a great rough diamond very well in a closet by way of curiosity and also for its intrinsic value but most prized when polished.

Awkwardness is a more real disadvantage than it is generally thought to be; it often occasions ridicule, it always lessens dignity.

Being pretty on the inside means you dont hit your brother and you eat all your peas thats what my grandma taught me.

Maintain a clean and strong character.

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

The mere brute pleasure of reading - the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing.

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.

Any affectation whatsoever in dress implies, in my mind, a flaw in the understanding.

If we do not plant knowledge when young it will give us no shade when we are old.

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

I sometimes give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.

To govern mankind, one must not overrate them.

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

An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

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.

People hate those who make them feel their own inferiority.

Persist and persevere, and you will find most things that are attainable, possible.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Style is the dress of thoughts, and let them be ever so just.

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.

Know the true value of time snatch seize and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness no delay no procrastination never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

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.

Artichoke: That vegetable of which one has more at the finish than at the start of dinner.

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

A vulgar man is captious and jealous; eager and impetuous about trifles. He suspects himself to be slighted, and thinks everything that is said meant at him.

Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him.

Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds.

Knowledge of the world in only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.

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

Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.

I recommend to you to take care of the minutes; for hours will take care of themselves.

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.

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

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

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