There is hardly anybody good for everything, and there is scarcely anybody who is absolutely good for nothing.
Lord ChesterfieldReligion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in mixed company; it should only be treated among a very few people of learning, for mutual instruction. It is too awful and respectable a subject to become a familiar one.
Lord ChesterfieldShould 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.
Lord ChesterfieldSpirit 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.
Lord ChesterfieldLittle vicious minds abound with anger and revenge and are incapable of feeling te pleasure of forgiving their enemies.
Lord ChesterfieldThe 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.
Lord Chesterfield