Lord Chesterfield
Lord Chesterfield
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield KG PCwas a British statesman, and a man of letters, and wit. He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield, and Lady Elizabeth Savile, and known as Lord Stanhope until the death of his father, in 1726. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he subsequently embarked on the Grand Tour of the Continent, to complete his education as a nobleman, by exposure to the cultural legacies of Classical antiquity and...
dance silly dancing
Dancing is, in itself, a very trifling and silly thing: but it is one of those established follies to which people of sense are sometimes obliged to conform; and then they should be able to do it well. And though I would not have you a dancer, yet, when you do dance, I would have you dance well, as I would have you do everything you do well.
giving doe pleasure
Pleasure is a necessary reciprocal. No one feels, who does not at the same time give it. To be pleased, one must please. What pleases you in others, will in general please them in you.
common-sense truth-is uncommon
Common sense (which, in truth, is very uncommon) is the best sense I know of: abide by it; it will counsel you best.
dirt rags dresses
Words are the dress of thoughts; which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt than your person should.
two people three
I recommend to you to take care of the minutes; for hours will take care of themselves. I am very sure, that many people lose two or three hours every day, by not taking care of the minutes.
time years two
There is time enough for everything in the course of the day if you do but one thing once; but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time.
friendship best-friend people
Most people enjoy the inferiority of their best friends.
education giving age
Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in an advanced age; and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old.
forgiveness revenge feelings
Little vicious minds abound with anger and revenge and are incapable of feeling te pleasure of forgiving their enemies.
health long may
May you live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer, or, may you rather die before you cease to be fit to live than after!
retirement years two
Lord Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years, but we don't choose to have it known.
real philosophical doctors
It seems to me that your doctor [Tronchin] is more of a philosopher than a physician. As for me, I much prefer a doctor who is anoptimist and who gives me remedies that will improve my health. Philosophical consolations are, after all, useless against real ailments. I know only two kinds of sickness--physical and moral: all the others are purely in the imagination.
sarcasm arrows bows
Nothing sharpens the arrow of sarcasm so keenly as the courtesy that polishes it; no reproach is like that we clothe with a smile and present with a bow.
life dream mean
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.