“It is a great advantage for any man to be able to talk or hear, neither ignorantly nor absurdly, upon any subject; for I have known people, who have not said one word, hear ignorantly and absurdly; it has appeared by their inattentive and unmeaning faces.”

—  Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

11 May 1752
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

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Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield 65
British statesman and man of letters 1694–1773

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