Background Image

...

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.

-Lord Chesterfield

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Little Minds Mistake Little

Lord Chesterfield

...

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.

Views: 8

Topic

More From Lord Chesterfield

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.

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

I Knew A Gentleman Who Was So Good A Manager Of His Time That He Would Not Even Lose That Small Portion Of It Which The Calls Of Nature Obliged Him To Pass In The Necessary-house; But Gradually Went Through All The Latin Poets In Those Moments.

A Cheerful, Easy, Open Countenance Will Make Fools Think You A Good-natured Man, And Make Designing Men Think You An Undesigning One.

Truth, But Not The Whole Truth, Must Be The Invariable Principle Of Every Man Who Hath Either Religion, Honour, Or Prudence. Thosewho Violate It, May Be Cunning, But They Are Not Able. Lies And Perfidy Are The Refuge Of Fools And Cowards.

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 Value Of Moments, When Cast Up, Is Immense, If Well Employed; If Thrown Away, Their Loss Is Irrecoverable.

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

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.

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.

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.

If You Are Not In Fashion, You Are Nobody.

Next To Clothes Being Fine, They Should Be Well Made, And Worn Easily; For A Man Is Only The Less Genteel For A Fine Coat, If, In Wearing It, He Shows A Regard For It, And Is Not As Easy In It As If It Was A Plain One.

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.

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

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.

A Seeming Ignorance Is Very Often A Most Necessary Part Of Worldly Knowledge. It Is, For Instance, Commonly Advisable To Seem Ignorant Of What People Offer To Tell You; And When They Say, Have Not You Heard Of Such A Thing? To Answer No, And To Let Them Go On, Though You Know It Already.

Whatever Is Worth Doing At All Is Worth Doing Well.

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

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

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

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

I Love Every-day Senses, Every-day Wit And Entertainment; A Man Who Is Only Good On Holidays, Is Good For Very Little.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Real Friendship Is A Slow Grower.

Real Friendship

To Govern Mankind, One Must Not Overrate Them.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

No Man Can Possibly Improve In Any Company For Which He Has Not Respect Enough To Be Under Some Degree Of Restraint.

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

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

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.

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.

Honest Error Is To Be Pitied Not Ridiculed.

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

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.

People Hate Who Makes You Feel One's Inferiority.

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

Few People Do Business Well, Who Do Nothing Else.

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

Fear Invites Danger; Concealed Cowards Insult Known Ones.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

In Friendship, As Well As In Love, The Mind Is Often The Dupe Of The Heart.

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.

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.

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.

Style Is The Dress Of Thoughts; And Let Them Be Ever So Just, If Your Style Is Homely, Coarse, And Vulgar, They Will Appear To As Much Disadvantage, And Be As Ill Received, As Your Person, Though Ever So Well-proportioned, Would If Dressed In Rags, Dirt, And Tatters.

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.'

Statesmen And Beauties Are Very Rarely Sensible Of The Gradations Of Their Decay.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Treating Others

I Look Upon Indolence As A Sort Of Suicide.

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.

I Really Know Nothing More Criminal, More Mean, And More Ridiculous Than Lying. It Is The Production Either Of Malice, Cowardice, Or Vanity; And Generally Misses Of Its Aim In Every One Of These Views; For Lies Are Always Detected, Sooner Or Later.

Ugliness Is A Letter Of Credit For Some Special Purposes.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

A Judicious Reticence Is Hard To Learn, But It Is One Of The Great Lessons Of Life.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Character Must Be Kept Bright As Well As Clean.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Many Young People Adopt Pleasures For Which They Have Not The Least Taste, Only Because They Are Called By That Name.... You Mustallow That Drunkenness, Which Is Equally Destructive To Body And Mind, Is A Fine Pleasure. Gaming, That Draws You Into A Thousand Scraps, Leaves You Penniless, And Gives You The Air And Manners Of An Outrageous Madman, Is Another Most Exquisite Pleasure, Is It Not? As To Running After Women, The Consequences Of That Vice Are Only The Loss Of One's Nose, The Total Destruction Of Health, And, Not Unfrequently, The Being Run Through The Body.

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

A Joker Is Near Akin To A Buffoon; And Neither Of Them Is The Least Related To Wit.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

I Would Have All Intoleration Intolerated In Its Turn.

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

If You Have An Hour, Will You Not Improve That Hour, Instead Of Idling It Away?

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.

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.

If Ever A Man And His Wife, Or A Man And His Mistress, Who Pass Nights As Well As Days Together, Absolutely Lay Aside All Good Breeding, Their Intimacy Will Soon Degenerate Into A Coarse Familiarity, Infallibly Productive Of Contempt Or Disgust.

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.

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

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

Indifference Is Commonly The Mother Of Discretion.

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.

May You Live As Long As You Are Fit To Live, But No Longer, Or, May You Rather Die Before You Cease To Be Fit To Live Than After!

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

Best Of The Best

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

The Nation Looked Upon Him As A Deserter, And He Shrunk Into Insignificancy And An Earldom.

Those Whom You Can Make Like Themselves Better Will, I Promise You, Like You Very Well.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

I Would Rather Have A Young Fellow Too Much Than Too Little Dressed; The Excess On That Side Will Wear Off, With A Little Age And Reflection; But If He Is Negligent At Twenty, He Will Be A Sloven At Forty, And Stink At Fifty Years Old. Dress Yourself Fine Where Others Are Fine, And Plain Where Others Are Plain; But Take Care Always That Your Clothes Are Well Made And Fit You, For Otherwise They Will Give You A Very Awkward Air.

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

Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today.

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.

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

Ceremonies Are The Outworks Of Manners.

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

Clothes And Fashion

Idleness Is Only The Refuge Of Weak Minds.

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

Keep Your Hands Clean And Pure From The Infamous Vice Of Corruption, A Vice So Infamous That It Degrades Even The Other Vices Thatmay Accompany It. Accept No Present Whatever; Let Your Character In That Respect Be Transparent And Without The Least Speck, For As Avarice Is The Vilest And Dirtiest Vice In Private, Corruption Is So In Public Life.

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

Sexual Intercourse Is A Grossly Overrated Pastime; The Position Is Undignified, The Pleasure Momentary And The Consequences Damnable.

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

Lord Tyrawley And I Have Been Dead These Two Years, But We Don't Choose To Have It Known.

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

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.

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

Trending Author

Vladimir Nabokov

Category