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...
abound anger feeling forgiveness forgiving incapable minds pleasure vicious
Little, vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies.
ancestry breeding brute good scholar soldier
The scholar without good breeding is a nitpicker; the philosopher a cynic; the soldier a brute and everyone else disagreeable.
confused facts heap history
History is only a confused heap of facts
fools holiday idleness refuge weak
Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools
respectable ifs
You must be respectable, if you will be respected.
inferiority your-best-friend enjoy
Inferiority is what you enjoy in your best friends.
letters easy natural
Letters should be easy and natural, and convey to the persons to whom we send them just what we should say to the persons if we were with them.
mankind
To govern mankind, one must not overrate them.
sincerity
Sincerity is the most compendious wisdom.
expression language
Seek always for the best words and the happiest expression you can find.
errors honest
Honest error is to be pitied not ridiculed.
equality men
A man who tells nothing, or who tells all, will equally have nothing told him.
manners ceremony
Ceremonies are the outworks of manners.
resentment forgotten sometimes
It is often more necessary to conceal contempt than resentment; the former is never forgiven, but the later is sometimes forgotten.