Background Image

...

A Wise Man Will Live As Much Within His Wit As His Income.... Bear This Truth Always In Your Mind, That You May Be Admired For Your Wit, If You Have Any; But That Nothing But Good Sense And Good Qualities Can Make You Be Loved.

-Lord Chesterfield

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

A Wise Man Will

Lord Chesterfield

...

A Wise Man Will Live As Much Within His Wit As His Income.... Bear This Truth Always In Your Mind, That You May Be Admired For Your Wit, If You Have Any; But That Nothing But Good Sense And Good Qualities Can Make You Be Loved.

Views: 16389

Topic

More From Lord Chesterfield

Distrust Those Who Love You Extremely Upon A Slight Acquaintance, And Without Any Visible Reason.

So Much Are Our Minds Influenced By The Accidents Of Our Bodies, That Every Man Is More The Man Of The Day Than A Regular And Consequential Character.

If You Can Once Engage People's Pride, Love, Pity, Ambition (or Whatever Is Their Prevailing Passion) On Your Side, You Need Not Fear What Their Reason Can Do Against You.

Seek Always For The Best Words And The Happiest Expression You Can Find.

A Man Of Sense Only Trifles With Them, Plays With Them, Humors And Flatters Them, As He Does With A Sprightly And Forward Child; But He Neither Consults Them About, Nor Trusts Them With, Serious Matters.

Men, As Well As Women, Are Much Oftener Led By Their Hearts Than By Their Understandings.

Everything Is Worth Seeing Once, And The More One Sees The Less One Either Wonders Or Admires.

Second-rate Knowledge, And Middling Talents, Carry A Man Farther At Courts, And In The Busy Part Of The World, Than Superior Knowledge And Shining Parts.

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.

It Is Often More Necessary To Conceal Contempt Than Resentment; The Former Is Never Forgiven, But The Later Is Sometimes Forgotten.

The Best Way To Compel Weak-minded People To Adopt Our Opinion, Is To Frighten Them From All Others, By Magnifying Their Danger.

Let Your Letter Be Written As Accurately As You Are Able,--i Mean With Regard To Language, Grammar, And Stops; For As To The Matter Of It The Less Trouble You Give Yourself The Better It Will Be. 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.

If You Love Music Hear It; Go To Operas, Concerts, And Pay Fiddlers To Play To You; But I Insist Upon Your Neither Piping Nor Fiddling Yourself. It Puts A Gentleman In A Very Frivolous, Contemptible Light; Brings Him Into A Great Deal Of Bad Company; And Takes Up A Great Deal Of Time, Which Might Be Much Better Employed.

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.

Study The Heart And The Mind Of Man, And Begin With Your Own. Meditation And Reflection Must Lay The Foundation Of That Knowledge, But Experience And Practice Must, And Alone Can, Complete It.

Elegance Of Manner Is The Outgrowth Of Refined And Exalted Sense.

It Must Be Owned, That The Graces Do Not Seem To Be Natives Of Great Britain; And I Doubt, The Best Of Us Here Have More Of Rough Than Polished Diamond.

The Greatest Powers Cannot Injure A Man's Character Whose Reputation Is Unblemished Among His Party.

A Wise Man Will Live As Much Within His Wit As His Income.... Bear This Truth Always In Your Mind, That You May Be Admired For Your Wit, If You Have Any; But That Nothing But Good Sense And Good Qualities Can Make You Be Loved.

Judgment Is Not Upon All Occasions Required, But Discretion Always Is.

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.

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.

Smooth Your Way To The Head Through The Heart. The Way Of Reason Is A Good One: But It Is Commonly Something Longer, And Perhapsnot So Sure.

Wear Your Knowledge Like Your Watch - In You Pocket - And Don't Pull It Out Just For Show.

Men Will Not Believe Because They Will Not Broaden Their Minds.

Merit And Knowledge Will Not Gain Hearts, Though They Will Secure Them When Gained.

The Manner Of Your Speaking Is Full As Important As The Matter, As More People Have Ears To Be Tickled Than Understandings To Judge.

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.

Man Is More Himself, Man Is More Manlike, When Joy Is The Fundamental Thing In Him, And Grief The Superficial.

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.

Most People Have Ears, But Few Have Judgment; Tickle Those Ears, And Depend Upon It, You Will Catch Their Judgments, Such As They Are.

The Heart Has Such An Influence Over The Understanding, That It Is Worth While To Engage It In Our Interest.

If Originally It Was Not Good For A Man To Be Alone, It Is Much Worse For A Sick Man To Be So; He Thinks Too Much Of His Distemper, And Magnifies It.

Learning Is Acquired By Reading Books; Much More Necessary Learning, The Knowledge Of The World, Is Only To Be Acquired By Reading Men, And Studying All The Various Editions Of Them.

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.

I Have Seen Many People, Who While You Are Speaking To Them, Instead, Of Looking At, And Attending To You, Fix Their Eyes Upon The Ceiling, Or Some Other Part Of The Room, Look Out Of The Window, Play With A Dog, Twirl Their Snuff-box, Or Pick Their Nose. Nothing Discovers A Little, Futile, Frivolous Mind More Than This, And Nothing Is So Offensively Ill-bred.

Women's Beauty, Like Men's Wit, Is Generally Fatal To The Owners.

Dispatch Is The Soul Of Business.

We Are Really So Prejudiced By Our Educations, That, As The Ancients Deified Their Heroes, We Deify Their Madmen.

Two People Cannot Be Alone Together For Upwards Of Half An Hour Without One Emerging As The Superior.

Though We Cannot Totally Change Our Nature, We May In Great Measure Correct It By Reflection And Philosophy; And Some Philosophy Is A Very Necessary Companion In This World, Where, Even To The Most Fortunate, The Chances Are Greatly Against Happiness.

All I Desire For My Own Burial, Is Not To Be Buried Alive; But How Or Where, I Think, Must Be Entirely Indifferent To Every Rational Creature.

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.

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.

Armies, Though Always The Supporters And Tools Of Absolute Power For The Time Being, Are Always The Destroyers Of It Too; By Frequently Changing The Hands In Which They Think Proper To Lodge It.

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.

Patience Is The Most Necessary Quality For Business, Many A Man Would Rather You Heard His Story Than Grant His Request.

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.

The Heart Never Grows Better By Age; I Fear Rather Worse; Always Harder.

Assurance And Intrepidity, Under The White Banner Of Seeming Modesty, Clear The Way For Merit, That Would Otherwise Be Discouraged By Difficulties...

Firmness Of Purpose Is One Of The Most Necessary Sinews Of Character, And One Of The Best Instruments Of Success. Without It, Genius Wastes Its Efforts In A Maze Of Inconsistencies.

Keep Your Own Secret, And Get Out Other People's. Keep Your Own Temper, And Artfully Warm Other People's. Counterwork Your Rivalswith Diligence And Dexterity, But At The Same Time With The Utmost Personal Civility To Them: And Be Firm Without Heat.

I Have, By Long Experience, Found Women To Be Like Telephus's Spear: If One End Kills, The Other Cures.

Whoever Plays Deep Must Necessarily Lose His Money Or His Character.

Hear One Side And You Will Be In The Dark. Hear Both And All Will Be Clear.

If You Will Please People, You Must Please Them In Their Own Way.

Religion Is By No Means A Proper Subject Of Conversation In Mixed Company; It Should Only Be Treated Among A Very Few People Of Learning, For Mutual Instruction. It Is Too Awful And Respectable A Subject To Become A Familiar One.

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 It All.

Dispatch Is The Soul Of Business, And Nothing Contributes More To Dispatch Than Method.

Remember, That When I Speak Of Pleasures I Always Mean The Elegant Pleasures Of A Rational Being, And Not The Brutal Ones Of A Swine. I Mean La Bonne Chère, Short Of Gluttony; Wine, Infinitely Short Of Drunkenness; Play, Without The Least Gaming; And Gallantry, Without Debauchery.

It Is By Vivacity And Wit That Man Shines In Company; But Trite Jokes And Loud Laughter Reduce Him To A Buffoon.

Good-breeding Carries Along With It A Dignity That Is Respected By The Most Petulant. Ill-breeding Invites And Authorizes The Familiarity Of The Most Timid.

A Wise Man Will Live As Much Within His Wit As Within His Income.

The Vulgar Look Upon A Man, Who Is Reckoned A Fine Speaker, As A Phenomenon, A Supernatural Being, And Endowed With Some Peculiargift Of Heaven; They Stare At Him, If He Walks In The Park, And Cry, That Is He. You Will, I Am Sure, View Him In A Juster Light, And Nulla Formidine. You Will Consider Him Only As A Man Of Good Sense, Who Adorns Common Thoughts With The Graces Of Elocution, And The Elegancy Of Style. The Miracle Will Then Cease.

Supernatural Beings

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.

Gratitude Is A Burden Upon Our Imperfect Nature.

Speak Of The Moderns Without Contempt And Of The Ancients Without Idolatry; Judge Them All By Their Merits, But Not By Their Age

All I Can Say, In Answer To This Kind Queries [of Friends] Is That I Have Not The Distemper Called The Plague; But That I Have Allthe Plagues Of Old Age, And Of A Shattered Carcase.

I Look Upon Indolence As A Sort Of Suicide.

The Vulgar Only Laugh, But Never Smile; Whereas Well-bred People Often Smile, But Seldom Laugh.

Awkwardness Is A More Real Disadvantage Than It Is Generally Thought To Be; It Often Occasions Ridicule, It Always Lessens Dignity.

Mind Not Only What People Say, But How They Say It; And If You Have Any Sagacity, You May Discover More Truth By Your Eyes Than By Your Ears. People Can Say What They Will, But They Cannot Look Just As They Will; And Their Looks Frequently (reveal) What Their Words Are Calculated To Conceal.

It Is An Undoubted Truth, That The Less One Has To Do, The Less Time One Finds To Do It In. One Yawns, One Procrastinates, One Can Do It When One Will, And Therefore One Seldom Does It At All.

Procrastinating

Women Who Are Either Indisputably Beautiful, Or Indisputably Ugly, Are Best Flattered Upon The Score Of Their Understandings.

Any Affectation Whatsoever In Dress Implies, In My Mind, A Flaw In The Understanding.

Talk Often, But Never Long; In That Case, If You Do Not Please, At Least You Are Sure Not To Tire Your Hearers. Pay Your Own Reckoning, But Do Not Treat The Whole Company; This Being One Of The Few Cases In Which People Do Not Care To Be Treated, Every One Being Fully Convinced That He Has Wherewithal To Pay.

The Talent Of Insinuation Is More Useful Than That Of Persuasion, As Everybody Is Open To Insinuation, But Scarce Any To Persuasion.

There Is Nothing That People Bear More Impatiently, Or Forgive Less, Than Contempt: And An Injury Is Much Sooner Forgotten Than An Insult.

Insult To Injury

Little Secrets Are Commonly Told Again, But Great Ones Generally Kept.

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.

The Scholar Without Good Breeding Is A Pedant; The Philosopher, A Cynic.

It May Be Objected, That I Am Now Recommending Dissimulation To You; I Both Own And Justify It. It Has Been Long Said: Qui Nescitdissimular Nescit Regnare: I Go Still Farther, And Say, That Without Some Dissimulation, No Business Can Be Carried On At All.

A Man Who Tells Nothing, Or Who Tells All, Will Equally Have Nothing Told Him.

Mankind Is Made Up Of Inconsistencies, And No Man Acts Invariably Up To His Predominant Character. The Wisest Man Sometimes Acts Weakly, And The Weakest Sometimes Wisely.

Our Own Self-love Draws A Thick Veil Between Us And Our Faults.

Many People Come Into Company Full Of What They Intend To Say In It Themselves, Without The Least Regard To Others; And Thus Charged Up To The Muzzle Are Resolved To Let It Off At Any Rate.

I Have Been Too Long Acquainted With Human Nature To Have Great Regard For Human Testimony; And A Very Great Degree Of Probability, Supported By Various Concurrent Circumstances, Conspiring In One Point, Will Have Much Greater Weight With Me, Than Human Testimony Upon Oath, Or Even Upon Honour; Both Of Which I Have Frequently Seen Considerably Warped By Private Views.

Absolute Power Can Only Be Supported By Error, Ignorance And Prejudice.

The Greatest Dangers Have Their Allurements, If The Want Of Success Is Likely To Be Attended With A Degree Of Glory. Middling Dangers Are Horrid, When The Loss Of Reputation Is The Inevitable Consequence Of Ill Success.

I Often Wish For The End Of The Wretched Remnant Of My Life; And That Wish Is A Rational One; But Then The Innate Principle Of Self-preservation, Wisely Implanted In Our Natures, For Obvious Purposes, Opposes That Wish, And Makes Us Endeavour To Spin Out Our Thread As Long As We Can, However Decayed And Rotten It May Be.

Whatever You Do, Do It To The Purpose; Do It Thoroughly, Not Superficially. Go To The Bottom Of Things. Any Thing Half Done, Or Half Known, Is In My Mind, Neither Done Nor Known At All. Nay, Worse, For It Often Misleads.

Honest Error Is To Be Pitied Not Ridiculed.

To Me It Appears Strange That The Men Against Whom I Should Be Enabled To Bring An Action For Laying A Little Dirt At My Door, May With Impunity Drive By It Half-a-dozen Calves, With Their Tails Lopped Close To Their Bodies And Their Hinder Parts Covered With Blood.

To Take A Wife Merely As An Agreeable And Rational Companion, Will Commonly Be Found To Be A Grand Mistake.

There Is A Certain Jargon, Which, In French, I Should Call Un Persiflage D'affaires, That A Foreign Minister Ought To Be Perfectlymaster Of, And May Be Used Very Advantageously At Great Entertainments, In Mixed Companies, And In All Occasions Where He Must Speak, And Should Say Nothing. Well Turned And Well Spoken, It Seems To Mean Something, Though In Truth It Means Nothing. It Is A Kind Of Political Badinage, Which Prevents Or Removes A Thousand Difficulties, To Which A Foreign Minister Is Exposed In Mixed Conversations.

No Woman Ever Yet Either Reasoned Or Acted Long Together Consequentially; But Some Little Thing, Some Love, Some Resentment, Somepresent Momentary Interest, Some Supposed Slight, Or Some Humour, Always Breaks In Upon, And Oversets Their Most Prudent Resolutions And Schemes.

Wrongs Are Often Forgiven; But Contempt Never Is. Our Pride Remembers It Forever.

The Only Solid And Lasting Peace Between A Man And His Wife Is, Doubtless, A Separation.

Swift Speedy Time, Feathered With Flying Hours, Dissolves The Beauty Of The Fairest Brow.

The Manner Of A Vulgar Man Has Freedom Without Ease, And The Manner Of A Gentleman Has Ease Without Freedom.

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.

Our Conjectures Pass Upon Us For Truths; We Will Know What We Do Not Know, And Often, What We Cannot Know: So Mortifying To Our Pride Is The Base Suspicion Of Ignorance.

Women Of Fashion And Character--i Do Not Mean Absolutely Unblemished--are A Necessary Ingredient In The Composition Of Good Company; The Attention Which They Require, And Which Is Always Paid Them By Well-bred Men, Keeps Up Politeness, And Gives A Habit Of Good-breeding; Whereas Men, When They Live Together Without The Lenitive Of Women In Company, Are Apt To Grow Careless, Negligent, And Rough Among One Another.

The Rich Are Always Advising The Poor, But The Poor Seldom Return The Compliment.

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.

I Assisted At The Birth Of That Most Significant Word "flirtation," Which Dropped From The Most Beautiful Mouth In The World.

If We Do Not Plant Knowledge When Young, It Will Give Us No Shade When We Are Old.

There Is A Sort Of Veteran Women Of Condition, Who, Having Lived Always In The Grand Mode, And Having Possibly Had Some Gallantries, Together With The Experience Of Five And Twenty Or Thirty Years, Form A Young Fellow Better Than All The Rules That Can Be Given Him.

Pocket All Your Knowledge With Your Watch, And Never Pull It Out In Company Unless Desired.

Montesquieu Well Knew, And Justly Admired, The Happy Constitution Of This Country [great Britain], Where Fixed And Known Laws Equally Restrain Monarchy From Tyranny And Liberty From Licentiousness.

The Great, The Rich, The Powerful, Too Often Bestow Their Favours Upon Their Inferiors In The Manner They Bestow Their Scraps Upontheir Dogs, So As Neither To Oblige Man Nor Dogs. It Is No Wonder If Favours, Benefits, And Even Charities Thus Bestowed Ungraciously, Should Be As Coldly And Faintly Acknowledged.

We Are Hardly Ever Grateful For A Fine Clock Or Watch When It Goes Right, And We Pay Attention To It Only When It Falters, For Then We Are Caught By Surprise. It Ought To Be The Other Way About.

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.

The New Year Is The Season In Which Custom Seems More Particularly To Authorize Civil And Harmless Lies, Under The Name Of Compliments. People Reciprocally Profess Wishes Which They Seldom Form And Concern Which They Seldom Feel.

Should You Be Unfortunate Enough To Have Vices, You May, To A Certain Degree, Even Dignify Them By A Strict Observance Of Decorum;at Least They Will Lose Something Of Their Natural Turpitude.

The Possibility Of Remedying Imprudent Actions Is Commonly An Inducement To Commit Them.

Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today.

Our Prejudices Are Our Mistresses; Reason Is At Best Our Wife, Very Often Heard Indeed, But Seldom Minded.

Half The Business Is Done, When One Has Gained The Heart And The Affections Of Those With Whom One Is To Transact It.

Idleness Is Only The Refuge Of Weak Minds.

Prepare Yourself For The World, As Athletes Used To Do For Their Exercises; Oil Your Mind And Your Manners, To Give Them The Necessary Suppleness And Flexibility; Strength Alone Will Not Do.

Cautiously Avoid Speaking Of The Domestic Affairs Either Of Yourself, Or Of Other People. Yours Are Nothing To Them But Tedious Gossip; And Theirs Are Nothing To You.

There Is Hardly Anybody Good For Everything, And There Is Scarcely Anybody Who Is Absolutely Good For Nothing.

Fear Manifested Invites Danger.

Indifference Is Commonly The Mother Of Discretion.

A Rake Is A Composition Of All The Lowest, Most Ignoble, Degrading, And Shameful Vices; They All Conspire To Disgrace His Character, And To Ruin His Fortune; While Wine And The Pox Content Which Shall Soonest And Most Effectually Destroy His Constitution.

Men Are Apt To Mistake, Or At Least To Seem To Mistake, Their Own Talents, In Hopes, Perhaps, Of Misleading Others To Allow Them That Which They Are Conscious They Do Not Possess. Thus Lord Hardwicke Valued Himself More Upon Being A Great Minister Of State, Which He Certainly Was Not, Than Upon Being A Great Magistrate, Which He Certainly Was.

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.

We Are, In Truth, More Than Half What We Are By Imitation.

Artichoke: That Vegetable Of Which One Has More At The Finish Than At The Start Of Dinner.

Remember That Whatever Knowledge You Do Not Solidly Lay The Foundation Of Before You Are Eighteen, You Will Never Be Master Of While You Breathe.

Human Nature Is The Same Everywhere; The Modes Only Are Different.

The Law Before Us, My Lords, Seems To Be The Effect Of That Practice Of Which It Is Intended Likewise To Be The Cause, And To Be Dictated By The Liquor Of Which It So Effectually Promotes The Use; For Surely It Never Before Was Conceived By Any Man Entrusted With The Administration Of Public Affairs, To Raise Taxes By The Destruction Of The People.

The Most Familiar And Intimate Habitudes, Connections, Friendships, Require A Degree Of Good-breeding Both To Preserve And Cement Them.

When One Is At Play, One Should Not Think Of One's Learning.

A Man's Own Good Breeding Is The Best Security Against Other People's Ill Manners.

You Must Embrace The Man You Hate, If You Cannot Be Justified In Knocking Him Down.

In The Mass Of Mankind, I Fear, There Is Too Great A Majority Of Fools And Knaves; Who, Singly From Their Number, Must To A Certain Degree Be Respected, Though They Are By No Means Respectable.

Health ... Is The First And Greatest Of All Blessings.

A Man Of Fashion Never Has Recourse To Proverbs, And Vulgar Aphorisms; Uses Neither Favourite Words Nor Hard Words, But Takes Great Care To Speak Very Correctly And Grammatically, And To Pronounce Properly; That Is, According To The Usage Of The Best Companies.

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.

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.

Never Write Down Your Speeches Beforehand; If You Do, You May Perhaps Be A Good Declaimer, But Will Never Be A Debater.

Violent Measures Are Always Dangerous, But, When Necessary, May Then Be Looked On As Wise. They Have, However, The Advantage Of Never Being Matter Of Indifference; And, When Well Concerted, Must Be Decisive.

One Should Always Think Of What One Is About; When One Is Learning, One Should Not Think Of Play; And When One Is At Play, One Should Not Think Of Learning.

I Would Have All Intoleration Intolerated In Its Turn.

It Is Commonly Said That Ridicule Is The Best Test Of Truth; For That It Will Not Stick Where It Is Not Just. I Deny It. A Truth Learned In A Certain Light, And Attacked In Certain Words, By Men Of Wit And Humor, May, And Often Doth, Become Ridiculous, At Least So Far, That The Truth Is Only Remembered And Repeated For The Sake Of The Ridicule.

Know The True Value Of Time; Snatch, Seize, And Enjoy Every Moment Of It.

Virtue And Learning, Like Gold, Have Their Intrinsic Value: But If They Are Not Polished, They Certainly Lose A Great Deal Of Their Luster: And Even Polished Brass Will Pass Upon More People Than Rough Gold.

Inspirational Life

An Honest Man May Really Love A Pretty Girl, But Only An Idiot Marries Her Merely Because She Is Pretty.

To Know A Little Of Anything Gives Neither Satisfaction Nor Credit, But Often Brings Disgrace Or Ridicule.

Cardinal Mazarin Was A Great Knave, But No Great Man; Much More Cunning Than Able; Scandalously False And Dirtily Greedy.

There Is Nothing So Necessary, But At The Same Time There Is Nothing More Difficult (i Know It By Experience) For You Young Fellows, Than To Know How To Behave Yourselves Prudently Towards Those Whom You Do Not Like. Your Passions Are Warm, And Your Heads Are Light; You Hate All Those Who Oppose Your Views, Either Of Ambition Or Love; And A Rival, In Either, Is Almost A Synonymous Term For Any Enemy.

Character Must Be Kept Bright As Well As Clean.

Most Arts Require Long Study And Application, But The Most Useful Art Of All, That Of Pleasing, Requires Only The Desire.

You Must Be Respectable, If You Will Be Respected.

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.

Almost All Men Are Born With Every Passion To Some Extent, But There Is Hardly A Man Who Has Not A Dominant Passion To Which The Others Are Subordinate. Discover This Governing Passion In Every Individual; And When You Have Found The Master Passion Of A Man, Remember Never To Trust To Him Where That Passion Is Concerned.

Little Vicious Minds Abound With Anger And Revenge And Are Incapable Of Feeling Te Pleasure Of Forgiving Their Enemies.

This Is The Day When People Reciprocally Offer, And Receive, The Kindest And The Warmest Wishes, Though, In General, Without Meaning Them On One Side, Or Believing Them On The Other. They Are Formed By The Head, In Compliance With Custom, Though Disavowed By The Heart, In Consequence Of Nature.

Next To Doing Things That Deserve To Be Written, Nothing Gets A Man More Credit, Or Gives Him More Pleasure Than To Write Things That Deserve To Be Read.

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.

Speak The Language Of The Company You Are In; Speak It Purely, And Unlarded With Any Other.

It Is Hard To Say Which Is The Greatest Fool: He Who Tells The Whole Truth, Or He Who Tells No Truth At All. Character Is As Necessary In Business As In Trade. No Man Can Deceive Often In Either.

Few Fathers Care Much For Their Sons, Or At Least, Most Of Them Care More For Their Money. Of Those Who Really Love Their Sons, Few Know How To Do It.

Either A Good Or A Bad Reputation Outruns And Gets Before People Wherever They Go.

Human Condition

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.

Every Man Becomes, To A Certain Degree, What The People He Generally Converses With Are.

At Any Age We Must Cherish Illusions, Consolatory Or Merely Pleasant; In Youth, They Are Omnipresent; In Old Age We Must Search For Them, Or Even Invent Them. But With All That, Boredom Is Their Natural And Inevitable Accompaniment.

The Mere Brute Pleasure Of Reading - The Sort Of Pleasure A Cow Must Have In Grazing.

Little Minds Mistake Little Objects For Great Ones, And Lavish Away Upon The Former That Time And Attention Which Only The Latterdeserve. To Such Mistakes We Owe The Numerous And Frivolous Tribe Of Insect-mongers, Shell-mongers, And Pursuers And Driers Of Butterflies, Etc. The Strong Mind Distinguishes, Not Only Between The Useful And The Useless, But Likewise Between The Useful And The Curious.

Women Have, In General, But Ne Object, Which Is Their Beauty; Upon Which, Scarce Any Flattery Is Too Gross For Them To Swallow.

Not To Care For Philosophy Is To Be A True Philospher.

I Am Grown Old, And Have Possibly Lost A Great Deal Of That Fire, Which Formerly Made Me Love Fire In Others At Any Rate, And However Attended With Smoke: But Now I Must Have All Sense, And Cannot, For The Sake Of Five Righteous Lines, Forgive A Thousand Absurd Ones.

Inferiority Is What You Enjoy In Your Best Friends.

Your Best Friend

A Man Of Sense May Be In Haste, But Can Never Be In A Hurry.

Give Nobly To Indigent Merit, And Do Not Refuse Your Charity Even To Those Who Have Not Merit But Their Misery.

Choose The Company Of Your Superiors Whenever You Can Have It.

The Less One Has To Do, The Less Time One Finds To Do It In.

Physical Ills Are The Taxes Laid Upon This Wretched Life; Some Are Taxed Higher, And Some Lower, But All Pay Something.

Persist And Persevere, And You Will Find Most Things That Are Attainable, Possible.

An Able Man Shows His Spirit By Gentle Words And Resolute Actions.

The Late Président De Montesquieu Told Me That He Knew How To Be Blind--he Had Been So For Such A Long Time--but I Swear That I Do Not Know How To Be Deaf: I Cannot Get Used To It, And I Am As Humiliated And Distressed By It Today As I Was During The First Week. No Philosophy In The World Can Palliate Deafness.

If A Marriage Is Going To Work Well, It Must Be On A Solid Footing, Namely Money, And Of That Commodity It Is The Girl With The Smallest Dowry Who, To My Knowledge, Consumes The Most, To Infuriate Her Husband. All The Same, It Is Only Fair That The Marriage Should Pay For Past Pleasures, Since It Will Scarcely Procure Any In The Future.

Ceremony Is Necessary In Courts, As The Outwork And Defense Of Manners.

Young Men Are Apt To Think Themselves Wise Enough, As Drunken Men Are Apt To Think Themselves Sober Enough.

Horse-play, Romping, Frequent And Loud Fits Of Laughter, Jokes, And Indiscriminate Familiarity, Will Sink Both Merit And Knowledge Into A Degree Of Contempt. They Compose At Most A Merry Fellow; And A Merry Fellow Was Never Yet A Respectable Man.

Most People Enjoy The Inferiority Of Their Best Friends.

You Must Labour To Acquire That Great And Uncommon Talent Of Hating With Good Breeding, And Loving With Prudence; To Make No Quarrel Irreconcilable By Silly And Unnecessary Indications Of Anger; And No Friendship Dangerous, In Care It Breaks, By A Wanton, Indiscreet, And Unreserved Confidence.

Gold And Silver Are But Merchandise, As Well As Cloth Or Linen; And That Nation That Buys The Least, And Sells The Most, Must Always Have The Most Money.

I Am Provoked At The Contempt Which Most Historians Show For Humanity In General; One Would Think By Them, That The Whole Human Species Consisted But Of About A Hundred And Fifty People, Called And Dignified (commonly Very Undeservedly Too) By The Titles Of Emperors, Kings, Popes, Generals, And Ministers.

When A Person Is In Fashion, All They Do Is Right.

Clothes And Fashion

Deafness Produces Bizarre Effects, Reversing The Natural Order Of Things; The Interchange Of Letters Is The Conversation Of The Deaf, And The Only Link With Society. I Would Be In Despair, For Instance, Over Seeing You Speak, But, Instead, I Am Only Too Happy To Hear You Write.

Advice Is Seldom Welcome, And Those Who Need It The Most, Like It The Least.

Ties Of Blood Are Not Always Ties Of Friendship; But Friendship Founded On Merit, On Esteem, And On Mutual Trust, Becomes More Vital And More Tender When Strengthened By The Ties Of Blood.

There Are People Who Indulge Themselves In A Sort Of Lying, Which They Reckon Innocent, And Which In One Sense Is So; For It Hurtsnobody But Themselves. This Sort Of Lying Is The Spurious Offspring Of Vanity, Begotten Upon Folly.

Wrongs Are Often Forgiven, But Contempt Never Is. Our Pride Remembers It Forever. It Implies A Discovery Of Weakness, Which We Are More Careful To Conceal Than A Crime. Many A Man Will Confess His Crimes To A Friend; But I Never Knew A Man That Would Tell His Silly Weaknesses To His Most Intimate One.

Never Yield To That Temptation, Which, To Most Young Men, Is Very Strong, Of Exposing Other People's Weaknesses And Infirmities, For The Sake Either Of Diverting The Company, Or Of Showing Your Own Superiority. You May Get The Laugh On Your Side By It For The Present; But You Will Make Enemies By It For Ever; And Even Those Who Laugh With You Then, Will, Upon Reflection, Fear, And Consequently Hate You.

I Am Convinced That A Light Supper, A Good Night's Sleep, And A Fine Morning, Have Sometimes Made A Hero Of The Same Man, Who, By An Indigestion, A Restless Night, And Rainy Morning, Would Have Proved A Coward.

In The Ordinary Course Of Things, How Many Succeed In Society Merely By Virtue Of Their Manners, While Others, However Meritorious, Fail Through Lack Of Them? After All, It's Only Barbarians Who Wear Uncut Precious Stones.

Precious Stones

Trending Author

Maria Sharapova

Brandon Sanderson

Sergio Aragones

Johannes Kepler

Category