Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield
9 quotes.
Quotes by Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield
- A man who cannot command his temper should not think of being a man of business.
- A man's own good-breeding is the best security against other people's ill-manners.
- Character must be kept bright, as well as clean.
- 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.
- Most arts require long study and application; but the most useful art of all, that of pleasing, requires only the desire.
- Sincerity is 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.
- Smooth your way to the head through the heart. The way of reason is a good one; but it is commonly something longer, and perhaps not so sure.
- The scholar without good-breeding is a pedant; the philosopher, a cynic; the soldier, a brute; and every man disagreeable.
- While young, hoard up a great stock of knowledge; though in that season of dissipation you may not have occasion to spend much of it, yet a time will come when you will need it to maintain you.