"In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool."

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More quotes from: Lord Chesterfield

• "A constant smirk upon the face, and a whiffing activity of the body, are strong ..."
• "A man of sense only trifles with them, plays with them, humors and flatters them, ..."
• "A novel must be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat. "
• "A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ..."
• "A wise man will live as much within his wit as within his income. "
• "Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most, always like it the ..."
• "Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who ..."
• "An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult. "
• "Any affectation whatsoever in dress implies, in my mind, a flaw in the understanding. "
• "As fathers commonly go, it is seldom a misfortune to be fatherless; and considering the ..."
• "Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so. "
• "Being pretty on the inside means you don't hit your brother and you eat all ..."
• "Custom has made dancing sometimes necessary for a young man; therefore mind it while you ..."
• "Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance and without any ..."
• "Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill manners. "
• "Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial ..."
• "Good humor is the health of the soul, sadness is its poison. "
• "He makes people pleased with him by making them first pleased with themselves. "
• "Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will ..."
• "Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed. "
• "Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both ..."
• "I am convinced that a light supper, a good night's sleep, and a fine morning, ..."
• "I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention, ..."
• "I find, by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for ..."
• "I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, ..."
• "I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care ..."
• "I sometimes give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it. "

• "Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds. "
• "If ever a man and his wife, or a man and his mistress, who pass ..."
• "If you are not in fashion, you are nobody. "
• "If you can once engage people's pride, love, pity, ambition on your side, you need ..."
• "If you would convince others, seem open to conviction yourself. "
• "In matters of religion and matrimony I never give any advice; because I will not ..."
• "In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal, and so ill-bred, as audible laughter. "
• "In those days he was wiser than he is now - he used frequently to ..."
• "Inferiority is what you enjoy in your best friends. "
• "It must be owned, that the Graces do not seem to be natives of Great ..."
• "Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No ..."
• "Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh. "
• "Knowledge of the world in only to be acquired in the world, and not in ..."
• "Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of ..."
• "Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which ..."
• "Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same ..."
• "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the ..."
• "Men, as well as women, are much oftener led by their hearts than by their ..."
• "Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise. "
• "Most maxim-mongers have preferred the prettiness to the justness of a thought, and the turn ..."
• "Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, ..."
• "Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults. "
• "Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard ..."
• "Persist and persevere, and you will find most things that are attainable, possible. "
• "Pleasure is a necessary reciprocal. No one feels, who does not at the same time ..."
• "Politicians neither love nor hate. Interest, not sentiment, directs them. "

• "Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, perseverance in exercise, adaptation of dress to ..."
• "Remember, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through ..."
• "Sex: the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable. "
• "Swift speedy time, feathered with flying hours, Dissolves the beauty of the fairest brow. "
• "Take care not to understand editions and title-pages too well. It always smells of pedantry, ..."
• "Take the tone of the company you are in. "
• "The difference between a man of sense and a fop is that the fop values ..."
• "The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse, always harder. A young ..."
• "The less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in. "
• "The mere brute pleasure of reading - the sort of pleasure a cow must have ..."
• "The more one works, the more willing one is to work. "
• "The only solid and lasting peace between a man and his wife is, doubtless, a ..."
• "The rich are always advising the poor, but the poor seldom return the compliment. "
• "The scholar without good breeding is a nitpicker; the philosopher a cynic; the soldier a ..."
• "The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel ..."
• "There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an ..."
• "To govern mankind, one must not overrate them. "
• "To have frequent recourse to narrative betrays great want of imagination. "
• "Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; ..."
• "Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it ..."
• "Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. "
• "When a person is in fashion, all they do is right. "
• "Whoever is in a hurry shows that the thing he is about is too big ..."
• "Wit is so shining a quality that everybody admires it; most people aim at it, ..."
• "You must look into people as well as at them. "
• "Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to ..."