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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.

-Lord Chesterfield

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One Man Affirms That

Lord Chesterfield

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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.

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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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Not To Perceive The Little Weaknesses And The Idle But Innocent Affectations Of The Company May Be Allowable As A Sort Of Polite Duty. The Company Will Be Pleased With You If You Do, And Most Probably Will Not Be Reformed By You If You Do Not.

Good Manners, To Those One Does Not Love, Are No More A Breach Of Truth, Than "your Humble Servant," At The Bottom Of A Challengeis; They Are Universally Agreed Upon, And Understand To Be Things Of Course. They Are Necessary Guards Of The Decency And Peace Of Society.

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.

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.

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

If You Would Convince Others, Seem Open To Conviction Yourself.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

The Most Ignorant Are The Boldest Conjecturers.

I Find, By Experience, That The Mind And The Body Are More Than Married, For They Are Most Intimately United; And When One Suffers, The Other Sympathizes.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Real Friendship Is A Slow Grower.

Real Friendship

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Ridicule Is The Best Test Of Truth.

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

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

Good Breeding And Good Nature Do Incline Us Rather To Help And Raise People Up To Ourselves, Than To Mortify And Depress Them, And, In Truth, Our Own Private Interest Concurs In It, As It Is Making Ourselves So Many Friends, Instead Of So Many Enemies.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Ceremonies Are The Outworks Of Manners.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sincerity Is The Most Compendious Wisdom.

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

There Is Not A More Prudent Maxim, Than To Live With One's Enemies As If They May One Day Become One's Friends; As It Commonly Happens, Sooner Or Later, In The Vicissitudes Of Political Affairs.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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

Women Who Are Either Indisputably Beautiful, Or Indisputably Ugly, Are Best Flattered Upon The Score Of Their Understandings; But Those Who Are In A State Of Mediocrity Are Best Flattered Upon Their Beauty, Or At Least Their Graces; For Every Woman Who Is Not Absolutely Ugly Thinks Herself Handsome.

The More One Works, The More Willing One Is To Work.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The 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

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

Do As You Would Be Done By, Is The Surest Method Of Pleasing.

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.

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

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

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.

A Certain Degree Of Ceremony Is A Necessary Outwork Of Manners, As Well As Of Religion; It Keeps The Forward And Petulant At A Proper Distance, And Is A Very Small Restraint To The Sensible And To The Well-bred Part Of The World.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Dispatch Is The Soul Of Business.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

To Have Frequent Recourse To Narrative Betrays Great Want Of Imagination.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

People Hate Who Makes You Feel One's Inferiority.

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

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

When A Man Is Once In Fashion, All He Does Is Right.

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

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

There Is Time Enough For Everything In The Course Of The Day If You Do But One Thing Once; But There Is Not Time Enough In The Year If You Will Do Two Things At A Time.

For My Own Part, I Would Rather Be In Company With A Dead Man Than With An Absent One; For If The Dead Man Gives Me No Pleasure, At Least He Shows Me No Contempt; Whereas The Absent One, Silently Indeed, But Very Plainly, Tells Me That He Does Not Think Me Worth His Attention.

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

I Look Upon Indolence As A Sort Of Suicide.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Unlike My Subject Will I Frame My Song, It Shall Be Witty And It Shan't Be Long.

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.

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.

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.

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

If You Are Not In Fashion, You Are Nobody.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

The Permanency Of Most Friendships Depends Upon The Continuity Of Good Fortune.

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.

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

Deserve A Great Deal, And You Shall Have A Great Deal; Deserve Little, And You Shall Have But A Little; And Be Good For Nothing Atall, And I Assure You, You Shall Have Nothing At All.

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

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

Fear Invites Danger; Concealed Cowards Insult Known Ones.

Few People Do Business Well, Who Do Nothing Else.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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John Bates Clark

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