“The herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all adoptive; and, in general, I believe it is better that it should be so; as such common prejudices contribute more to order and quiet, than their own separate reasonings would do, uncultivated and unimproved as they are.”

7 February 1749
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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