“I wish to God that you had as much pleasure in following my advice, as I have in giving it to you.”

— Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774), 5 February 1750

About Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

1694 – 1773

English statesman and man of letters, author of "Letters to His Son".

“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.”

“Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.”

“Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.”

“Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the help of reason.”

“Happy the man whose wish and care a few paternal acres bound, content to breathe his native air in his own ground.”

“Happy endings usually don't work for me. I like open endings. I trust the reader's imagination.”

“Cease, every joy, to glimmer on my mind, But leave, oh! leave the light of Hope behind!”

“Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.”

“Only it takes time to be happy. A lot of time. Happiness, too, is a long patience.”