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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.

-Lord Chesterfield

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I Often Wish For

Lord Chesterfield

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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.

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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

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.

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

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

Compliments Of Congratulation Are Always Kindly Taken, And Cost Nothing But Pen, Ink And Paper. I Consider Them As Draughts Upon Good Breeding, Where The Exchange Is Always Greatly In Favor Of The Drawer.

Congratulations

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

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

Buy Good Books, And Read Them; The Best Books Are The Commonest, And The Last Editions Are Always The Best, If The Editors Are Not Blockheads.

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

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

The Only Sure Way Of Avoiding These Evils [vanity And Boasting] Is Never To Speak Of Yourself At All. But When, Historically, Youare Obliged To Mention Yourself, Take Care Not To Drop One Single Word That Can Directly Or Indirectly Be Construed As Fishing For Applause.

Let Them Show Me A Cottage Where There Are Not The Same Vices Of Which They Accuse The Courts.

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.

Women Are Much More Like Each Other Than Men: They Have, In Truth, But Two Passions, Vanity And Love; These Are Their Universal Characteristics.

Those Who See And Observe Kings, Heroes, And Statesmen, Discover That They Have Headaches, Indigestion, Humors And Passions, Just Like Other People; Every One Of Which In Their Turns Determine Their Wills In Defiance Of Their Reason.

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

We Are As Often Duped By Diffidence As By Confidence.

When You Have Found Out The Prevailing Passion Of Any Man, Remember Never To Trust Him Where That Passion Is Concerned.

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

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.

Loud Laughter Is The Mirth Of The Mob, Who Are Only Pleased With Silly Things; For True Wit Or Good Sense Never Excited A Laugh Since The Creation Of The World. A Man Of Parts And Fashion Is Therefore Often Seen To Smile, But Never Heard To Laugh.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Aim At Perfection In Everything, Though In Most Things It Is Unattainable. However, They Who Aim At It, And Persevere, Will Come Much Nearer To It Than Those Whose Laziness And Despondency Make Them Give It Up As Unattainable.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Young Leading The Young, Is Like The Blind Leading The Blind; "they Will Both Fall Into The Ditch.

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

A Vulgar Man Is Captious And Jealous; Eager And Impetuous About Trifles. He Suspects Himself To Be Slighted, And Thinks Everything That Is Said Meant At Him.

The Insolent Civility Of A Proud Man Is, If Possible, More Shocking Than His Rudeness Could Be; Because He Shows You, By His Manner, That He Thinks It Mere Condescension In Him; And That His Goodness Alone Bestows Upon You What You Have No Pretense To Claim.

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

I Do Not Think That A Physician Should Be Admitted Into The College Till He Could Bring Proofs Of His Having Cured, In His Own Person, At Least Four Incurable Distempers.

One Man Affirms That He Has Rode Post A Hundred Miles In Six Hours; Probably It Is A Lie; But Supposing It To Be True, What Then? Why, He Is A Very Good Post-boy; That Is All. Another Asserts, And Probably Not Without Oaths, That He Has Drunk Six Or Eight Bottles Of Wine At A Sitting; Out Of Charity I Will Believe Him A Liar; For If I Do Not, I Must Think Him A Beast.

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

Good Manners Are The Settled Medium Of Social, As Specie Is Of Commercial, Life; Returns Are Equally Expected For Both.

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

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.

If A Man, Notoriously And Designedly, Insults And Affronts You, Knock Him Down; But If He Only Injures You, Your Best Revenge Is To Be Extremely Civil To Him In Your Outward Behaviour, Though At The Same Time You Counterwork Him, And Return Him The Compliment, Perhaps With Interest.

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.

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.

Sincerity Is The Most Compendious Wisdom.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Women, Then, Are Only Children Of A Larger Growth

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.

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.

Gratitude Is A Burden Upon Our Imperfect Nature.

A Proper Secrecy Is The Only Mystery Of Able Men; Mystery Is The Only Secrecy Of Weak And Cunning Ones.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Manners Must Adorn Knowledge And Smooth Its Way In The World, Without Them It Is Like A Great Rough Diamond, Very Well In A Closet By Way Of Curiosity, And Also For Its Intrinsic Value; But Most Prized When Polished.

Business By No Means Forbids Pleasures; On The Contrary, They Reciprocally Season Each Other; And I Will Venture To Affirm, That No Man Enjoys Either In Perfection That Does Not Join Both.

Be Your Character What It Will, It Will Be Known, And Nobody Will Take It Upon Your Word.

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

Ugliness Is A Letter Of Credit For Some Special Purposes.

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge Of The World In Only To Be Acquired In The World, And Not In A Closet.

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

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.

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

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

A Certain Degree Of Fear Produces The Same Effects As Rashness.

True Politeness Is Perfect Ease And Freedom. It Simply Consists In Treating Others Just As You Love To Be Treated Yourself.

Treating Others

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

You Will Find That Reason, Which Always Ought To Direct Mankind, Seldom Does; But That Passions And Weaknesses Commonly Usurp Itsseat, And Rule In Its Stead.

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

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.

Modesty Is The Only Sure Bait When You Angle For Praise.

A Learned Parson, Rusting In His Cell At Oxford Or Cambridge, Will Reason Admirably Well Upon The Nature Of Man; Will Profoundly Analyze The Head, The Heart, The Reason, The Will, The Passions, The Senses, The Sentiments, And All Those Subdivisions Of We Know Not What ; And Yet, Unfortunately, He Knows Nothing Of Man... He Views Man As He Does Colours In Sir Isaac Newton's Prism, Where Only The Capital Ones Are Seen; But An Experienced Dyer Knows All Their Various Shades And Gradations, Together With The Result Of Their Several Mixtures.

Love Has Been Not Unaptly Compared To The Small-pox, Which Most People Have Sooner Or Later.

I Really Think Next To The Consciousness Of Doing A Good Action, That Of Doing A Civil One Is The Most Pleasing; And The Epithet Which I Should Covet The Most Next To That Of Aristides, Would Be That Of Well-bred.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Polished Brass Will Pass Upon More People Than Rough Gold.

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

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.

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. Examine Yourself, Why You Like Such And Such People And Dislike Such And Such Others; And You Will Find That Those Different Sentiments Proceed From Very Slight Causes.

Most People Enjoy The Inferiority Of Their Best Friends.

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

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

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

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

Give Dayrolles A Chair.

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.

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

As Fathers Commonly Go, It Is Seldom A Misfortune To Be Fatherless; And Considering The General Run Of Sons, As Seldom A Misfortune To Be Childless.

As Kings Are Begotten And Born Like Other Men, It Is To Be Presumed That They Are Of The Human Species; And Perhaps, Had They Thesame Education, They Might Prove Like Other Men. But, Flattered From Their Cradles, Their Hearts Are Corrupted, And Their Heads Are Turned, So That They Seem To Be A Species By Themselves.... Flattery Cannot Be Too Strong For Them; Drunk With It From Their Infancy, Like Old Drinkers, They Require Dreams.

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.

An Ignorant Man Is Insignificant And Contemptible; Nobody Cares For His Company, And He Can Just Be Said To Live, And That Is All.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 Merely Pull It Out And Strike It; Merely To Show That You Have One.

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

An Injury Is Much Sooner Forgotten Than An Insult.

Insult To Injury

Domestic Violence

A Novel Must Be Exceptionally Good To Live As Long As The Average Cat.

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.

People Hate Who Makes You Feel One's Inferiority.

Frequent And Loud Laughter Is The Characteristic Of Folly And Ill Manners.

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 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.

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

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

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

Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today.

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.

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.

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

Best Of The Best

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

I Look Upon Indolence As A Sort Of Suicide; For The Man Is Effectually Destroyed, Though The Appetites Of The Brute May Survive.

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.

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

In Seeking Wisdom Thou Art Wise; In Imagining That Thou Hast Attained It - Thou Art A Fool.

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

Nothing Convinces Persons Of A Weak Understanding So Effectually, As What They Do Not Comprehend.

Those Who Travel Heedlessly From Place To Place, Observing Only Their Distance From Each Other, And Attending Only To Their Accommodation At The Inn At Night, Set Out Fools, And Will Certainly Return So

Conscious Virtue Is The Only Solid Foundation Of All Happiness; For Riches, Power, Rank, Or Whatever, In The Common Acceptation Ofthe Word, Is Supposed To Constitute Happiness, Will Never Quiet, Much Less Cure, The Inward Pangs Of Guilt.

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.

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

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.

Nature Has Hardly Formed A Woman Ugly Enough To Be Insensible To Flattery Upon Her Person.

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.

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.

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

Be Wiser Than Other People If You Can; But Do Not Tell Them So.

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.

You Must Look Into People, As Well As At Them.

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.

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

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.

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.

In My Mind, There Is Nothing So Illiberal, And So Ill-bred, As Audible Laughter.

Experience Only Can Teach Men Not To Prefer What Strikes Them For The Present Moment, To What Will Have Much Greater Weight With The Them Hereafter.

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.

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.

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.

Good Humor Is The Health Of The Soul, Sadness Is Its Poison.

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

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.

Without Any Extraordinary Effort Of Genius, I Have Discovered That Nature Was The Same Three Thousand Years Ago As At Present; That Men Were But Men Then As Well As Now; That Modes And Customs Vary Often, But That Human Nature Is Always The Same. And I Can No More Suppose, That Men Were Better, Braver, Or Wiser, Fifteen Hundred Or Three Thousand Years Ago, Than I Can Suppose That The Animals Or Vegetables Were Better Than They Are Now.

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

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.

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

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.

A Young Fellow Ought To Be Wiser Than He Should Seem To Be; And An Old Fellow Ought To Seem Wise Whether He Really Be So Or Not.

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

Whenever A Man Seeks Your Advice He Generally Seeks Your Praise.

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.

Cultivate The Habit Of Thinking Ahead, And Of Anticipating The Necessary And Immediate Consequences Of All Your Actions.... Likewise In Your Pleasures, Ask Yourself What Such And Such An Amusement Leads To, As It Is Essential To Have An Objective In Everything You Do. Any Pastime That Contributes Nothing To Bodily Strength Or To Mental Alertness Is A Totally Ridiculous, Not To Say, Idiotic, Pleasure.

The French Manner Of Hunting Is Gentlemanlike; Ours Is Only For Bumpkins And Bodies. The Poor Beasts Here Are Pursued And Run Downby Much Greater Beasts Than Themselves; And The True British Fox-hunter Is Most Undoubtedly A Species Appropriated And Peculiar To This Country, Which No Other Part Of The Globe Produces.

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