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Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
66 quotes
“The idle story of the Pretender's having been introduced in a warming-pan, into the Queen's bed, though as destitute of all probability as of all foundation, has been much more prejudicial to the cause of Jacobitism, than all that Mr. Locke and others have written, to show the unreasonableness and absurdity of the doctrines of indefeasible hereditary right, and unlimited passive obedience.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his son (7 February 1749), quoted in The Life of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, His Poems and the Substance of the System of Education Delivered in a Series of Letters to His Son (1774), p. 183
“I foresee, that before the end of this century, the trade of both King and Priest will not be half so good a one as it has been.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1752 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his son (13 April 1752), quoted in Letters Written by the Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope, Esq., Late Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Dresden…
“The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1753 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Solomon Dayrolles (16 February 1753)
“I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1754 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The World, No. 101 (5 December 1754)
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“Unlike my subject will I frame my song, It shall be witty, and it shan't be long.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) said by 1773 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At twelve you may walk, for at this time o' the year, The sun like your wit, is as mild, as 'tis clear: But mark in the meadows the ruin of Time; Take the hint, and let life be improv'd in its prime.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1763 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Advice to a Lady in Autumn", published in A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. I. (1763), printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley
“Cheerful with wisdom, with innocence gay, And calm with your joys gently glide thro' the day. The dews of the evening most carefully shun — Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1763 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Advice to a Lady in Autumn", published in A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. I. (1763), printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley
“Then in chat, or at play, with a dance, or a song, Let the night, like the day, pass with pleasure along. All cares, but of love, banish far from your mind; And those you may end, when you please to be kind.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1763 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Advice to a Lady in Autumn", published in A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. I. (1763), printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley
“I see that you are in fears again from your White Boys, and have destroyed a good many of them; but I believe, that if the military force had killed half as many landlords, it would have contributed more effectually to restore quiet. The poor people in Ireland are used worse than negroes by their Lords and Masters, and their Deputies of Deputies of Deputies. For there is a sentiment in every human breast that asserts man's natural right to liberty and good usage, and that will, and ought to rebel when oppressed and provoked to a certain degree.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1313 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Richard Chenevix, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (1 October 1764), quoted in The Letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, with the Characters, Vol. III, ed. John Bradshaw (1893), pp. 1313–…
“Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) said by 1773 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years; but we don't choose to have it known.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) said by 1773 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Marriage is the cure of love, and friendship the cure of marriage.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) said by 1773 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Detached Thoughts, first published in Letters and Works of Philip Dormer Stanhope, volume 5 (1847)
“The nation looked upon him as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificancy and an earldom.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) said by 1773 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Character of Pulteney; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“He adorned whatever subject he either spoke or wrote upon, by the most splendid eloquence.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) said by 1773 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Character of Bolingbroke; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1745 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 19 November 1745
“Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1594 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The French attribute this to the painter Nicolas Poussin (born 15 June 1594) "Ce qui vaut la peine d'être fait vaut la peine d'être bien fait
Also quoted by: Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (disputed), Earl Of Chesterfield
“The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1746 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 4 October 1746
“An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1746 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9 October 1746
“There is time enough for everything, in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 14 April 1747
“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.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 21 September 1747
“Courts and camps are the only places to learn the world in.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2 October 1747
“The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2 October 1747
“Do as you would be done by, is the surest method of pleasing.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9 October 1747
“Take the tone of the company you are in.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 16 October 1747
“I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow, who used to say, "Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 6 November 1747
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“The young leading the young, is like the blind leading the blind; “they will both fall into the ditch.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 24 November 1747
“I recommend you to take care of the minutes: for hours will take care of themselves.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1747 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1747
“Patience, to hear frivolous, impertinent, and unreasonable applications: with address enough to refuse, without offending; or, by your manner of granting, to double the obligation: dexterity enough to conceal a truth, without telling a lie: sagacity enough to read other people’s countenances: and serenity enough not to let them discover anything by yours; a seeming frankness, with a real reserve. These are the rudiments of a politician; the world must be your grammar.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 15 January 1748
“Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 29 January 1748
“Speak of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 February 1748
“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 pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 February 1748
“Sacrifice to the Graces.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9 March 1748
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so ill-bred, as audible laughter.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9 March 1748
“I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 9 March 1748
“The characteristic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors without insolence, and with his superiors with respect and with ease.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 17 March 1748
“Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1 July 1748
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“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.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 5 September 1748
“Little minds mistake little objects for great ones, and lavish away upon the former that time and attention which only the latter deserve. 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.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1748 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 6 December 1748
“A strong mind sees things in their true proportions; a weak one views them through a magnifying medium, which, like the microscope, makes an elephant of a flea: magnifies all little objects, but cannot receive great ones.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 10 January 1749
“The herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all adoptive; and, in general, I believe it is better that it should be so; as such common prejudices contribute more to order and quiet, than their own separate reasonings would do, uncultivated and unimproved as they are.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 7 February 1749
“Without some dissimulation no business can be carried on at all.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 May 1749
“I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify, the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 May 1749
“Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 20 July 1749
“Abject flattery and indiscriminate assentation degrade, as much as indiscriminate contradiction and noisy debate disgust. But a modest assertion of one’s own opinion, and a complaisant acquiescence in other people’s, preserve dignity.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 10 August 1749
“Style is the dress of thoughts.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 24 November 1749
Also quoted by: Earl Of Chesterfield
“Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but two passions, vanity and love; these are their universal characteristics.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 19 December 1749
“We must not draw general conclusions from certain particular principles, though, in the main, true ones. We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it. No. We are complicated machines: and though we have one main-spring, that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 19 December 1749
“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.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 26 December 1749
“Dispatch is the soul of business.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1750 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 5 February 1750
“I wish to God that you had as much pleasure in following my advice, as I have in giving it to you.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) first seen 1750 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 5 February 1750