Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Quotes


Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.


Citations

Stanhope, Philip Dormer. Letters to His Son on the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman. Edited by Oliver H. G. Leigh, M. Walter Dunne, 1901.

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Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
  • Born: September 22, 1694
  • Died: March 25, 1773
  • Nationality: British
  • Profession: Statesman

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, was a British statesman, and a man of letters, and wit. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he subsequently embarked on the Grand Tour of the Continent, to complete his education as a nobleman, by exposure to the cultural legacies of Classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to become acquainted with his aristocratic counterparts and the polite society of Continental Europe.