Lord Chesterfield
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters, 1694-1773
22 quotes.
Quotes by Lord Chesterfield
- A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones.
- Aim at least at the perfection of everything that is worth doing at all; and you will come nearer it than you would imagine; but those always crawl infinitely short of it whose aim is only mediocrity.
- An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions; he is neither hot nor timid.
- Despatch is the soul of business.
- Firmness of purpose is one of the best instruments of success.
- Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed.
- I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention, and labor, make himself whatever he pleases, except a great poet.
- I recommend to you to take care of the minutes; for hours will take care of themselves.
- 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.
- In scandal, as in robbery, the receiver is always as bad as the thief.
- Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
- Never think any portion of time whatsoever too short to be employed; something or other may always be done in it.
- Persist, persevere, and you will find most things attainable that are possible.
- Reputation, like health, is preserved and increased by the same means by which it is acquired.
- The power of applying attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the sure mark of superior genius.
- 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.
- True politeness is perfect ease and freedom. It simply consists in treating others just as you love to be treated yourself.
- Very few people are good economists of their fortune, and still fewer of their time.
- Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out and strike it, merely to show that you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it, but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman.
- Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
- Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big for him. Haste and hurry are very different things.
- You must be respectable, if you will be respected.