Background Image

...

I Could Wish There Were A Treaty Made Between The French And The English Theatres, In Which Both Parties Should Make Considerableconcessions. The English Ought To Give Up Their Notorious Violations Of The Unities, And All Their Massacres, Racks, Dead Bodies, And Mangled Carcasses, Which They So Frequently Exhibit Upon Their Stage. The French Should Engage To Have More Action, And Less Declamation, And Not To Cram And To Crowd Things Together To Almost A Degree Of Impossibility From A Too Scrupulous Adherence To The Unities.

-Lord Chesterfield

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

I Could Wish There

Lord Chesterfield

...

I Could Wish There Were A Treaty Made Between The French And The English Theatres, In Which Both Parties Should Make Considerableconcessions. The English Ought To Give Up Their Notorious Violations Of The Unities, And All Their Massacres, Racks, Dead Bodies, And Mangled Carcasses, Which They So Frequently Exhibit Upon Their Stage. The French Should Engage To Have More Action, And Less Declamation, And Not To Cram And To Crowd Things Together To Almost A Degree Of Impossibility From A Too Scrupulous Adherence To The Unities.

Views: 5

Topic

More From Lord Chesterfield

Six, Or At Most Seven, Hours' Sleep Is, For A Constancy, As Much As You Or Anybody Else Can Want; More Is Only Laziness And Dozing, And Is, I Am Persuaded, Both Unwholesome And Stupefying.

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.

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.

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

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.

Politicians Neither Love Nor Hate. Interest, Not Sentiment, Directs Them.

The Receipt To Make A Speaker, And An Applauded One Too, Is Short And Easy. Take Common Sense Quantum Sufficit; Add A Little Application To The Rules And Orders Of The House [of Commons], Throw Obvious Thoughts In A New Light, And Make Up The Whole With A Large Quantity Of Purity, Correctness And Elegancy Of Style. Take It For Granted That By Far The Greatest Part Of Mankind Neither Analyze Nor Search To The Bottom; They Are Incapable Of Penetrating Deeper Than The Surface.

He Adorned Whatever Subject He Either Spoke Or Wrote Upon, By The Most Splendid Eloquence.

I Heartily Wish You, In The Plain Home-spun Style, A Great Number Of Happy New Years, Well Employed In Forming Both Your Mind Andyour Manners, To Be Useful And Agreeable To Yourself, Your Country, And Your Friends.

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.

Arbitrary Power Has Seldom... Been Introduced In Any Country At Once. It Must Be Introduced By Slow Degrees, And As It Were Step By Step.

A Man Who Owes A Little Can Clear It Off In A Very Little Time, And, If He Is A Prudent Man, Will; Whereas A Man, Who By Long Negligence, Owes A Great Deal, Despairs Of Ever Being Able To Pay, And Therefore Never Looks Into His Accounts At All.

Firmness Of Purpose Is One Of The Best Instruments Of Success.

If You Are Not In Fashion, You Are Nobody.

No Man Tastes Pleasures Truly, Who Does Not Earn Them By Previous Business; And Few People Do Business Well, Who Do Nothing Else.

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

I Am In The Pitiable Situation Of Feeling All The Force Of Temptation Without Having The Strength To Succumb To It.

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.

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.

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

Few Men Are Of One Plain, Decided Color; Most Are Mixed, Shaded, And Blended; And Vary As Much, From Different Situations, As Changeable Silks Do From Different Lights.

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

History Is But A Confused Heap Of Facts.

It Is Reported Here That The King Of Prussia Has Gone Mad And Has Been Locked Up. There Would Be Nothing Bad About That: At Leastthat Might Of His Would No Longer Be A Menace, And You Could Breathe Freely For A While. I Much Prefer Madmen Who Are Locked Up To Those Who Are Not.

I Knew Once A Very Covetous, Sordid Fellow [perhaps William Lowndes], Who Used To Say, `take Care Of The Pence, For The Pounds Will Take Care Of Themselves.

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.

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

Always Make The Best Of The Best, And Never Make Bad Worse.

Best Of The Best

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.

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

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.

In Nature The Most Violent Passions Are Silent; In Tragedy They Must Speak And Speak With Dignity Too.

Common Sense (which, In Truth, Is Very Uncommon) Is The Best Sense I Know Of: Abide By It; It Will Counsel You Best.

You Must Be Respectable, If You Will Be Respected.

Since Attaining The Full Use Of My Reason No One Has Ever Heard Me Laugh.

Women, Then, Are Only Children Of A Larger Growth

Anne Of Austria (with Great Submission To A Crowned Head Do I Say It) Was A B----. She Had Spirit And Courage Without Parts, Devotion Without Common Morality, And Lewdness Without Tenderness Either To Justify Or To Dignify It. Her Two Sons Were No More Lewis The Thirteen's Than They Were Mine.

We Are In Truth, More Than Half What We Are By Imitation. The Great Point Is To Choose Good Models And To Study Them With Care.

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

Whatever Is Worth Doing At All Is Worth Doing Well.

Fear Manifested Invites Danger.

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.

Polished Brass Will Pass Upon More People Than Rough Gold.

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.

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.

Choose Your Pleasures For Yourself, And Do Not Let Them Be Imposed Upon You.

Young Men Are As Apt To Think Themselves Wise Enough, As Drunken Men Are To Think Themselves Sober Enough. They Look Upon Spirit To Be A Much Better Thing Than Experience; Which They Call Coldness. They Are But Half Mistaken; For Though Spirit Without Experience Is Dangerous, Experience Without Spirit Is Languid And Ineffective.

Let Us Not Only Scatter Benefits, But Even Strew Flowers For Our Fellow-travellers, In The Rugged Ways Of This Wretched World.

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

If You Have Wit, Use It To Please And Not To Hurt: You May Shine Like The Sun In The Temperate Zones Without Scorching.

One Of The Greatest Difficulties In Civil War Is, That More Art Is Required To Know What Should Be Concealed From Our Friends, Than What Ought To Be Done Against Our Enemies.

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

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.

Of Those Who Really Love Their Sons, Few Know How To Do It. Some Spoil Them When They Are Young, And Then Quarrel With Them When They Are Grown Up, For Having Been Spoiled; Some Love Them Like Mothers, And Attend Only To The Bodily Health And Strength Of The Hopes Of Their Family, Solemnize His Birthday, And Rejoice, Like The Subjects Of The Great Mogul, At The Increase Of His Bulk: While Others, Minding, As They Think, Only Essentials, Take Pains And Pleasure To See In Their Heir, All Their Favourite Weaknesses And Imperfections.

To Write Anything Tolerable, The Mind Must Be In A Natural, Proper Disposition; Provocatives, In That Case, As Well As In Another,will Only Produce Miserable, Abortive Performances.

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.

Manners Must Adorn Knowledge And Smooth Its Way Through The World.

Idleness Is Only The Refuge Of Weak Minds.

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

To Govern Mankind, One Must Not Overrate Them.

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.

Instead Of Giving In To The Greatest Misfortune That Can Happen At My Age, Deafness, I Busy Myself In Searching Out All Possible Compensations, And I Apply Myself Much More To All The Amusements That Are Here Within My Grasp.

Knowledge May Give Weight, But Accomplishments Give Luster, And Many More People See Than Weigh.

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

Sculpture And Painting Are Very Justly Called Liberal Arts; A Lively And Strong Imagination, Together With A Just Observation, Being Absolutely Necessary To Excel In Either; Which, In My Opinion, Is By No Means The Case Of Music, Though Called A Liberal Art, And Now In Italy Placed Even Above The Other Two--a Proof Of The Decline Of That Country.

Most Maxim-mongers Have Preferred The Prettiness To The Justness Of A Thought, And The Turn To The Truth; But I Have Refused Myself To Everything That My Own Experience Did Not Justify And Confirm.

A Man Of Sense Soon Discovers, Because He Carefully Observes, Where And How Long He Is Welcome; And Takes Care To Leave The Company At Least As Soon As He Is Wished Out Of It. Fools Never Perceive Whether They Are Ill Timed Or Ill Placed.

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

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.

Sex: The Pleasure Is Momentary, The Position Ridiculous, And The Expense Damnable.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

The World Can Doubtless Never Be Well Known By Theory: Practice Is Absolutely Necessary; But Surely It Is Of Great Use To A Young Man, Before He Sets Out For That Country, Full Of Mazes, Windings, And Turnings, To Have At Least A General Map Of It, Made By Some Experienced Traveler.

I Always Put These Pert Jackanapeses Out Of Countenance By Looking Extremely Grave When They Expect That I Should Laugh At Their Pleasantries; And By Saying Well, And So?--as If They Had Not Done, And That The Sting Were Still To Come. This Disconcerts Them, As They Have No Resources In Themselves, And Have But One Set Of Jokes To Live Upon.

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

Words Are The Dress Of Thoughts; Which Should No More Be Presented In Rags, Tatters, And Dirt Than Your Person Should.

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

Ugliness Is A Letter Of Credit For Some Special Purposes.

Remember That The Wit, Humour, And Jokes Of Most Mixed Companies Are Local. They Thrive In That Particular Soil, But Will Not Often Bear Transplanting.

Vulgarism In Language Is The Distinguishing Characteristic Of Bad Company, And A Bad Education. A Man Of Fashion Avoids Nothing With More Care Than That. Proverbial Expressions, And Trite Sayings, Are The Flowers Of The Rhetoric Of Vulgar Man.

I Sometimes Give Myself Admirable Advice, But I Am Incapable Of Taking It.

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

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

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

Keep Carefully Not Of All Scrapes And Quarrels. They Lower A Character Extremely; And Are Particularly Dangerous In France, Wherea Man Is Dishonoured By Not Resenting An Affront, And Utterly Ruined By Resenting It.

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.

In Order To Judge Of The Inside Of Others, Study Your Own; For Men In General Are Very Much Alike; And Though One Has One Prevailing Passion, And Another Has Another, Yet Their Operations Are Much The Same; And Whatever Engages Or Disgusts, Pleases Or Offends You, In Others, Will, Mutatis Mutandis, Engage, Disgust, Please, Or Offend Others, In You.

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.

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.

Take The Tone Of The Company You Are In...

A Weak Mind Is Like A Microscope, Which Magnifies Trifling Things But Cannot Receive Great Ones.

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.

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.

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

Silence And Reserve Suggest Latent Power. What Some Men Think Has More Effect Than What Others Say.

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.

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

It Is Good Breeding Alone That Can Prepossess People In Your Favor At First Sight, More Time Being Necessary To Discover Greater Talents.

Pleasure Is The Rock Which Most Young People Split Upon; They Launch Out With Crowded Sails In Quest Of It, But Without A Compassto Direct Their Course, Or Reason Sufficient To Steer The Vessel; For Want Of Which, Pain And Shame, Instead Of Pleasure, Are The Returns Of Their Voyage.

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.

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.

Civility, Which Is A Disposition To Accommodate And Oblige Others, Is Essentially The Same In Every Country; But Good Breeding, Asit Is Called, Which Is The Manner Of Exerting That Disposition, Is Different In Almost Every Country, And Merely Local; And Every Man Of Sense Imitates And Conforms To That Local Good Breeding Of The Place Which He Is At.

Were You To Converse With A King, You Ought To Be As Easy And Unembarrassed As With Your Own Valet-de Chambre; But Yet Every Look,word, And Action Should Imply The Utmost Respect.... You Must Wait Till You Are Spoken To; You Must Receive, Not Give, The Subject Of Conversation, And You Must Even Take Care That The Given Subject Of Such Conversation Do Not Lead You Into Any Impropriety.

Let It Be Your Maxim Through Life, To Know All You Can Know, Yourself; And Never To Trust Implicitly To The Information Of Others.

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

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

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

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

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.

You Must Be Respectful And Assenting, But Without Being Servile And Abject. You Must Be Frank, But Without Indiscretion, And Close, Without Being Costive. You Must Keep Up Dignity Of Character, Without The Least Pride Of Birth, Or Rank. You Must Be Gay, Within All The Bounds Of Decency And Respect; And Grave, Without The Affectation Of Wisdom, Which Does Not Become The Age Of Twenty. You Must Be Essentially Secret, Without Being Dark And Mysterious. You Must Be Firm, And Even Bold, But With Great Seeming Modesty.

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

Good Breeding Is The Result Of Good Sense, Some Good Nature, And A Little Self-denial For The Sake Of Others.

To Please People Is A Great Step Towards Persuading Them.

Whoever Incites Anger Has A Strong Insurance Against Indifference.

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.

How Often Should A Woman Be Pregnant? Continually, Or Hardly Ever? Or Must There Be A Certain Number Of Pregnancy Anniversaries Established By Fashion? What Do You, At The Age Of Forty-three, Have To Say On The Subject? Is It A Fact That The Laws Of Nature, Or Of The Country, Or Of Propriety, Have Ordained This Time Of Life For Sterility?

Singularity Is Only Pardonable In Old Age And Retirement; I May Now Be As Singular As I Please, But You May Not.

Being Pretty On The Inside Means You Don't Hit Your Brother And You Eat All Your Peas - That's What My Grandma Taught Me.

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

People Will, In A Great Degree, And Not Without Reason, Form Their Opinion Of You Upon That Which They Have Of Your Friends; And There Is A Spanish Proverb Which Says Vry Justly, 'tell Me Whom You Live With, And I Will Tell You Who You Are.'

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

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

There Will Never Be A Better Time To Start Quitting Smoking Than Today

When Griefs Are Genuine, I Find, There Is Nothing More Vacuous, More Burdensome, Or Even More Impertinent, Than Letters Of Consolation.

To This Principle Of Vanity, Which Philosophers Call A Mean One, And Which I Do Not, I Owe A Great Part Of The Figure Which I Have Made In Life.

Learn To Shrink Yourself To The Size Of The Company You Are In. Take Their Tone, Whatever It May Be, And Excell In It If You Can;but Never Pretend To Give The Tone. A Free Conversation Will No More Bear A Dictator Than A Free Government Will.

Men Are Much More Unwilling To Have Their Weaknesses And Their Imperfections Known Than Their Crimes.

He Makes People Pleased With Him By Making Them First Pleased With Themselves.

A Gentleman Is Often Seen, But Very Seldom Heard To Laugh.

A Man Must Have A Good Share Of Wit Himself To Endure A Great Share In Another.

A Gentleman Has Ease Without Familiarity, Is Respectful Without Meanness; Genteel Without Affectation, Insinuating Without Seeming Art.

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.

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.

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

Men Are Much More Unwilling To Have Their Weaknesses And Their Imperfections Known, Than Their Crimes; And, If You Hint To A Man That You Think Him Silly, Ignorant, Or Even Ill-bred Or Awkward, He Will Hate You More, And Longer, Than If You Tell Him Plainly That You Think Him A Rogue.

The Power Of Applying Attention, Steady And Undissipated, To A Single Object, Is The Sure Mark Of Superior Genius.

Style Is The Dress Of Thoughts, And Let Them Be Ever So Just.

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.

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.

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.

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

Give Dayrolles A Chair.

Cottages Have Them (falsehood And Dissimulation) As Well As Courts, Only With Worse Manners.

Whoever Is In A Hurry Shows That The Thing He Is About Is Too Big For Him.

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.

The Rulers Of The Earth Are All Worth Knowing; They Suggest Moral Reflections: And The Respect That One Naturally Has For God's Vice-regents Here On Earth Is Greatly Increased By Acquaintance With Them.

People Will No More Advance Their Civility To A Bear, Than Their Money To A Bankrupt.

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

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

Lady ---- Is Safely Delivered Of A Son, To The Great Joy Of That Noble Family. The Expression, Of A Woman's Having Brought Her Husband A Son, Seems To Be A Proper And Cautious One; For It Is Never Said, From Whence.

Every Man Is To Be Had One Way Or Another And Every Woman Almost Anyway.

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.

Wit Is So Shining A Quality That Everybody Admires It; Most People Aim At It, All People Fear It, And Few Love It Unless In Themselves. A Man Must Have A Good Share Of Wit Himself To Endure A Great Share Of It In Another.

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.

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

In Business Be As Able As You Can, But Do Not Be Cunning; Cunning Is The Dark Sanctuary Of Incapacity.

Ridicule Is The Best Test Of Truth.

Wise People May Say What They Will, But One Passion Is Never Cured By Another.

If You Will Please People, You Must Please Them In Their Own Way; And As You Cannot Make Them What They Should Be, You Must Take Them As They Are.

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.

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.

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.

Pray Be Always In Motion. Early In The Morning Go And See Things; And The Rest Of The Day Go And See People. If You Stay But A Week At A Place, And That An Insignificant One, See, However, All That Is To Be Seen There; Know As Many People, And Get Into As Many Houses As Ever You Can.

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.

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

The Most Ignorant Are The Boldest Conjecturers.

Observe Any Meetings Of People, And You Will Always Find Their Eagerness And Impetuosity Rise Or Fall In Proportion To Their Numbers.

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

A Foreign Minister, I Will Maintain It, Can Never Be A Good Man Of Business If He Is Not An Agreeable Man Of Pleasure Too. Half His Business Is Done By The Help Of His Pleasures: His Views Are Carried On, And Perhaps Best, And Most Unsuspectedly, At Balls, Suppers, Assemblies, And Parties Of Pleasure; By Intrigues With Women, And Connections Insensibly Formed With Men, At Those Unguarded Hours Of Amusement.

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

Vanity, Or To Call It By A Gentler Name, The Desire Of Admiration And Applause, Is, Perhaps, The Most Universal Principle Of Humanactions.... Where That Desire Is Wanting, We Are Apt To Be Indifferent, Listless, Indolent, And Inert.... I Will Own To You, Under The Secrecy Of Confession, That My Vanity Has Very Often Made Me Take Great Pains To Make Many A Woman In Love With Me, If I Could, For Whose Person I Would Not Have Given A Pinch Of Snuff.

Without Some Dissimulation No Business Can Be Carried On At All.

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

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.

Enjoy Pleasures, But Let Them Be Your Own, And Then You Will Taste Them.

It Seems To Me That Physical Sickness Softens, Just As Moral Sickness Hardens, The Heart.

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

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.

Endeavor, As Much As You Can, To Keep Company With People Above You.... Do Not Mistake, When I Say Company Above You, And Think That I Mean With Regard To Their Birth; That Is The Least Consideration; But I Mean With Regard To Their Merit, And The Light In Which The World Considers Them.

In Matters Of Religion And Matrimony I Never Give Any Advice; Because I Will Not Have Anybody's Torments In This World Or The Next Laid To My Charge.

It Is To Be Presumed, That A Man Of Common Sense, Who Does Not Desire To Please, Desires Nothing At All; Since He Must Know That He Cannot Obtain Anything Without It.

Spirit Is Now A Very Fashionable Word: To Act With Spirit, To Speak With Spirit, Means Only To Act Rashly, And To Talk Indiscreetly. An Able Man Shows His Spirit By Gentle Words And Resolute Actions; He Is Neither Hot Nor Timid.

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

In Your Friendships And In Your Enmities Let Your Confidence And Your Hostilities Have Certain Bounds; Make Not The Former Dangerous, Nor The Latter Irreconcilable. There Are Strange Vicissitudes In Business.

Women Especially As To Be Talked To As Below Men, And Above Children.

All Ceremonies Are In Themselves Very Silly Things; But Yet, A Man Of The World Should Know Them. They Are The Outworks Of Mannersand Decency, Which Would Be Too Often Broken In Upon, If It Were Not For That Defence, Which Keeps The Enemy At A Proper Distance.

Men Have Various Subjects In Which They May Excel, Or At Least Would Be Thought To Excel, And Though They Love To Hear Justice Done To Them Where They Know They Excel, Yet They Are Most And Best Flattered Upon Those Points Where They Wish To Excel And Yet Are Doubtful Whether They Do Or Not.

I Recommend You To Take Care Of The Minutes, For The Hours Will Take Care Of Themselves.

I Could Wish There Were A Treaty Made Between The French And The English Theatres, In Which Both Parties Should Make Considerableconcessions. The English Ought To Give Up Their Notorious Violations Of The Unities, And All Their Massacres, Racks, Dead Bodies, And Mangled Carcasses, Which They So Frequently Exhibit Upon Their Stage. The French Should Engage To Have More Action, And Less Declamation, And Not To Cram And To Crowd Things Together To Almost A Degree Of Impossibility From A Too Scrupulous Adherence To The Unities.

Real Friendship Is A Slow Grower.

Real Friendship

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.

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.

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.

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.

I Can Hardly Bring Myself To Caution You Against Drinking, Because I Am Persuaded That I Am Writing To A Rational Creature, A Gentleman, And Not To A Swine. However, That You May Not Be Insensibly Drawn Into That Beastly Custom Of Even Sober Drinking And Sipping, As The Sots Call It, I Advise You To Be Of No Club Whatsoever.

Trending Author

Nawal El Saadawi

Jessica Savitch

Category