Vulgar words in Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1750 (Page 1)
This book at a glance
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Vivacity and wit make a man shine in company; but trite jokes and loud laughter reduce him to a buffoon.
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Buy good books and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are not blockheads, for they may profit of the former.
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Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
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I will by no means pay for whores, and their never-failing consequences, surgeons; nor will I, upon any account, keep singers, dancers, actresses, and 'id genus omne'; and, independently of the expense, I must tell you, that such connections would give me, and all sensible people, the utmost contempt for your parts and address; a young fellow must have as little sense as address, to venture, or more properly to sacrifice, his health and ruin his fortune, with such sort of creatures; in such a place as Paris especially, where gallantry is both the profession and the practice of every woman of fashion.
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ETEXT EDITORS BOOKMARKS: Absurd romances of the two last centuries Advocate, the friend, but not the bully of virtue Ariosto Assurance and intrepidity Attention Author is obscure and difficult in his own language Characters, that never existed, are insipidly displayed Collana Commanding with dignity, you must serve up to it with diligence Complaisance to every or anybody's opinion Conceal all your learning carefully Connections Contempt Content yourself with mediocrity in nothing Court mores Dance to those who pipe Dante Decides peremptorily upon every subject Desire to please, and that is the main point Desirous to make you their friend Despairs of ever being able to pay Difference in everything between system and practice Dignity to be kept up in pleasures, as well as in business Distinction between simulation and dissimulation Do not mistake the tinsel of Tasso for the gold of Virgil Doing what may deserve to be written Done under concern and embarrassment, must be ill done Dressed as the generality of people of fashion are Economist of your time Economists Establishing a character of integrity and good manners Feed him, and feed upon him at the same time Flattery Fortune stoops to the forward and the bold Frivolous and superficial pertness Gentlemen, who take such a fancy to you at first sight Guard against those who make the most court to you Have no pleasures but your own If you will persuade, you must first please Improve yourself with the old, divert yourself with the young Indiscriminately loading their memories with every part alike Insipid in his pleasures, as inefficient in everything else Labor more to put them in conceit with themselves Lay down a method for everything, and stick to it inviolably Leo the Tenth Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote Let nobody discover that you do know your own value Let them quietly enjoy their errors in taste Lying Man is dishonored by not resenting an affront Manner is full as important as the matter Method Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise Money, the cause of much mischief Montesquieu More people have ears to be tickled, than understandings to judg Most people enjoy the inferiority of their best friends Necessity of scrupulously preserving the appearances Never affect the character in which you have a mind to shine Never put you out of countenance before company Never read history without having maps No one feels pleasure, who does not at the same time give it Not only pure, but, like Caesar's wife, unsuspected Often more necessary to conceal contempt than resentment Passes for a wit, though he hath certainly no uncommon share Patient toleration of certain airs of superiority People hate those who make them feel their own inferiority People lose a great deal of time by reading Pleased with him, by making them first pleased with themselves Pleasure is necessarily reciprocal Pocket all your knowledge with your watch Put out your time, but to good interest Real merit of any kind will be discovered Resentment Respect without timidity Rich man never borrows Same coolness and unconcern in any and every company Seem to like and approve of everything at first Sentiments that were never felt, pompously described Shall be more, or less, or not at all, yours She has all the reading that a woman should have She who conquers only catches a Tartar Silence in love betrays more woe Spare the persons while you lash the crimes Steady assurance, with seeming modesty Suspicion of age, no woman, let her be ever so old, ever forgive Take the hue of the company you are with Taking up adventitious, proves their want of intrinsic merit Tasso The present moments are the only ones we are sure of Those whom you can make like themselves better Timidity and diffidence To be heard with success, you must be heard with pleasure To be pleased one must please Trifle only with triflers; and be serious only with the serious Trite jokes and loud laughter reduce him to a buffoon 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