"Widger, David - Quotations of Lord Chesterfield" - читать интересную книгу автора (Widger David)

Unwilling and forced; it will never please
Well dressed, not finely dressed
What is impossible, and what is only difficult
What pleases you in others, will in general please them in you
Whatever real merit you have, other people will discover
Wish you, my dear friend, as many happy new years as you deserve
Women choose their favorites more by the ear
Words are the dress of thoughts
Writing what may deserve to be read
You must be respectable, if you will be respected
Your character there, whatever it is, will get before you here





LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1751
[LC#05][lc05sxxx.xxx]3355

If you find that you have a hastiness in your temper, which unguardedly
breaks out into indiscreet sallies, or rough expressions, to either your
superiors, your equals, or your inferiors, watch it narrowly, check it
carefully, and call the 'suaviter in modo' to your assistance: at the
first impulse of passion, be silent till you can be soft.

He often is unintelligible to his readers, and sometimes so, I dare say,
to himself.

"The prostrate lover, when he lowest lies,
But stoops to conquer, and but kneels to rise."

We are so made, we love to be pleased better than to be informed;
information is, in a certain degree, mortifying, as it implies our
previous ignorance; it must be sweetened to be palatable.

Free from the guilt: be free from the suspicion, too. Mankind, as I have
often told you, are more governed by appearances than by realities; and
with regard to opinion, one had better be really rough and hard, with the
appearance of gentleness and softness, than just the reverse.


A favor may make an enemy, and an injury may make a friend
Affectation of business
Applauded often, without approving
At the first impulse of passion, be silent till you can be soft
Avoid cacophony, and, what is very near as bad, monotony
Be silent till you can be soft
Being intelligible is now no longer the fashion
Better refuse a favor gracefully, than to grant it clumsily
Business must be well, not affectedly dressed