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Lord Chesterfield Quotes - Page 15

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

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

Lord Chesterfield
Men, Stupidity, Ignorant
Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield (1855). “The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author”, p.74

Two people cannot be alone together for upwards of half an hour without one emerging as the superior.

Lord Chesterfield
Communication, Two, People

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.

Lord Chesterfield
Men, Thinking, Proud
Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield (1855). “The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author”, p.312

True politeness is perfect ease and freedom. It simply consists in treating others just as you love to be treated yourself.

Lord Chesterfield
Perfect, Treating Others, Ease

Nothing is more dissimilar than natural and acquired politeness. The first consists in a willing abnegation of self; the second in a compelled recollection of others.

Lord Chesterfield
Self, Firsts, Natural

You should not only have attention to everything, but a quickness of attention, so as to observe at once all the people in the room--their motions, their looks and their words--and yet without staring at them and seeming to be an observer.

Lord Chesterfield
People, Rooms, Looks
Lord Chesterfield, David Roberts (2008). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.20, Oxford University Press

If you wish particularly to gain the good graces and affection of certain people, men or women, try to discover their most striking merit, if they have one, and their dominant weakness, for every one has his own, then do justice to the one, and a little more than justice to the other.

Lord Chesterfield
Men, People, Justice

Our self-love is mortified, when we think our opinions, and even our tastes, customs, and dresses, either arraigned or condemned;as, on the contrary, it is tickled and flattered by approbation.

Lord Chesterfield
Love Is, Thinking, Self
Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Eugenia Stanhope (1827). “Letters Written by the Earl of Chesterfield to His Son”, p.110

There is hardly any place or any company where you may not gain knowledge, if you please; almost everybody knows some one thing, and is glad to talk about that one thing.

Lord Chesterfield
Knowledge, May, Gains
Lord Chesterfield (2008). “The Modern Chesterfield”, p.71, Wildside Press LLC

Real merit of any kind cannot long be concealed; it will be discovered, and nothing can depreciate it but a man exhibiting it himself. It may not always be rewarded as it ought; but it will always be known.

Lord Chesterfield
Real, Men, Discovery

Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but let them feel at the same time the steadiness of your just resentment for there is a great difference between bearing malice, which is always ungenerous, and a resolute self-defense which is ever prudent and justifiable.

Lord Chesterfield
Time, Enemy, Resentment
"The Modern Chesterfield".

There is hardly anybody good for everything, and there is scarcely anybody who is absolutely good for nothing.

Lord Chesterfield

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

Lord Chesterfield
Insult To Injury, People, Forgiving
Lord Chesterfield (1998). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.87, OUP Oxford

Compliments of congratulation are always kindly taken, and cost nothing but pen, ink and paper. I consider them as draughts upon good breeding, where the exchange is always greatly in favor of the drawer.

Lord Chesterfield
Congratulations, Taken, Ink And Paper

Next to clothes being fine, they should be well made, and worn easily; for a man is only the less genteel for a fine coat, if, in wearing it, he shows a regard for it, and is not as easy in it as if it was a plain one.

Lord Chesterfield
Men, Clothes, Coats

When I reflect upon what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle and pleasure of the world had any reality; and I look on what has passed as one of those wild dreams which opium occasions, and I by no means wish to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fugitive illusion.

Lord Chesterfield
Life, Dream, Mean

Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial.

Lord Chesterfield
Happiness, Grief, Men

Many new years you may see, but happy ones you cannot see without deserving them. These virtue, honor, and knowledge alone can merit, alone can produce.

Lord Chesterfield
New Year, Years, Honor

Ugliness is a letter of credit for some special purposes.

Lord Chesterfield
Special, Purpose, Credit

Great merit or great failings will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world. Examine yourself, why you like such and such people and dislike such and such others; and you will find that those different sentiments proceed from very slight causes.

Lord Chesterfield
Running, People, Different

I would have all intoleration intolerated in its turn.

Lord Chesterfield
Turns
Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Eugenia Stanhope (1827). “Letters Written by the Earl of Chesterfield to His Son”, p.304

Whatever poets may write, or fools believe, of rural innocence and truth, and of the perfidy of courts, this is most undoubtedly true,--that shepherds and ministers are both men; their natures and passions the same, the modes of them only different.

Lord Chesterfield
Believe, Passion, Writing
Lord Chesterfield, David Roberts (2008). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.80, Oxford University Press

Sincerity w the most compendious wisdom, an excellent instrument for the speedy despatch of business. It creates confidence in those we have to deal with, saves the labor of many inquiries, and brings things to an issue in few words.

Lord Chesterfield
Issues, Inquiry, Few Words

Sincerity is the most compendious wisdom.

Lord Chesterfield
Sincerity

The greatest powers cannot injure a man's character whose reputation is unblemished among his party.

Lord Chesterfield
Party, Character, Men
Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield (1855). “The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author”, p.627

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