Good manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of commercial, life; returns are equally expected for both. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
A gentleman has ease without familiarity, is respectful without meanness; genteel without affectation, insinuating without seeming art. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Good breeding and good nature do incline us rather to help and raise people up to ourselves, than to mortify and depress… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
The company of women of fashion will improve your manners, though not your understanding; and that complaisance and politeness, which are so… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Cottages have them (falsehood and dissimulation) as well as courts, only with worse manners. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
In the ordinary course of things, how many succeed in society merely by virtue of their manners, while others, however meritorious, fail… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
I have seen many people, who while you are speaking to them, instead, of looking at, and attending to you, fix their… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Civility, which is a disposition to accommodate and oblige others, is essentially the same in every country; but good breeding, asit is… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
You must be respectful and assenting, but without being servile and abject. You must be frank, but without indiscretion, and close, without… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Prepare yourself for the world, as athletes used to do for their exercises; oil your mind and your manners, to give them… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way in the world, without them it is like a great rough diamond, very well… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Ceremony is necessary in Courts, as the outwork and defense of manners. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
I really think next to the consciousness of doing a good action, that of doing a civil one is the most pleasing;… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Good manners, to those one does not love, are no more a breach of truth, than "your humble servant," at the bottom… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
A man's fortune is frequently decided by his first address. If pleasing, others at once conclude he has merit; but if ungraceful,… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
I heartily wish you, in the plain home-spun style, a great number of happy new years, well employed in forming both your… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
The manner of a vulgar man has freedom without ease, and the manner of a gentleman has ease without freedom. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Many young people adopt pleasures for which they have not the least taste, only because they are called by that name.... You… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Nothing sharpens the arrow of sarcasm so keenly as the courtesy that polishes it; no reproach is like that we clothe with… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way through the world. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
A certain degree of ceremony is a necessary outwork of manners, as well as of religion; it keeps the forward and petulant… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Cultivate the habit of thinking ahead, and of anticipating the necessary and immediate consequences of all your actions.... Likewise in your pleasures, ask yourself… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
No woman ever yet either reasoned or acted long together consequentially; but some little thing, some love, some resentment, somepresent momentary interest, some supposed… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
I am in the pitiable situation of feeling all the force of temptation without having the strength to succumb to it. — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Mankind is made up of inconsistencies, and no man acts invariably up to his predominant character. The wisest man sometimes acts weakly, and the… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Compliments of congratulation are always kindly taken, and cost nothing but pen, ink and paper. I consider them as draughts upon good breeding, where… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
The insolent civility of a proud man is, if possible, more shocking than his rudeness could be; because he shows you, by his manner,… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
“Secret thoughts and an open countenance will take you safely the world over” — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Virtue and learning, like gold, have their intrinsic value: but if they are not polished, they certainly lose a great deal of their luster:… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in an advanced age; and if we do not plant it while young,… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
It is commonly said that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I… — Lord Chesterfield Copy Share Image
