Never hold anyone by the button or the hand in order to be heard out; for if people are unwilling to hear you, you had better hold your tongue than them.
Lord ChesterfieldSecond-rate knowledge, and middling talents, carry a man farther at courts, and in the busy part of the world, than superior knowledge and shining parts.
Lord ChesterfieldDistrust those who love you extremely upon a slight acquaintance, and without any visible reason.
Lord ChesterfieldCommon sense (which, in truth, is very uncommon) is the best sense I know of: abide by it; it will counsel you best.
Lord ChesterfieldThere is a certain jargon, which, in French, I should call un Persiflage d'Affaires, that a foreign Minister ought to be perfectlymaster of, and may be used very advantageously at great entertainments, in mixed companies, and in all occasions where he must speak, and should say nothing. Well turned and well spoken, it seems to mean something, though in truth it means nothing. It is a kind of political badinage, which prevents or removes a thousand difficulties, to which a foreign Minister is exposed in mixed conversations.
Lord Chesterfield