Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Quotes
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Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
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The characteristic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors without insolence, and with his superiors with respect and with ease.
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I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh.
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The manner is often as important as the matter, sometimes more so.
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Let this be one invariable rule of your conduct-never to show the least symptom of resentment, which you cannot, to a certain degree, gratify; but always to smile, where you cannot strike.
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I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify, the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual.
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Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds.
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Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years; but we don't choose to have it known.
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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 pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.
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I assisted at the birth of that most significant word 'flirtation,' which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.
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The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one.
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A proper secrecy is the only mystery of able men; mystery is the only secrecy of weak and cunning ones.
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I really know nothing more criminal, more mean, and more ridiculous than lying. It is the production either of malice, cowardice, or vanity; and generally misses of its aim in every one of these views; for lies are always detected, sooner or later.
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The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
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In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so ill-bred, as audible laughter.
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Unlike my subject will I frame my song, It shall be witty, and it shan't be long.
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Every woman is infallibly to be gained by every sort of flattery, and every man by one sort or other.
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There are some occasions in which a man must tell half his secret, in order to conceal the rest; but there is seldom one in which a man should tell all. Great skill is necessary to know how far to go, and where to stop.
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Courts and camps are the only places to learn the world in.
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I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow, who used to say, 'Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves.'
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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.
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Marriage is the cure of love, and friendship the cure of marriage.
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Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.
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Let dull critics feed upon the carcasses of plays; give me the taste and the dressing.