Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Quotes

A good man with a good conscience doesn't walk so fast.

The rewards of integrity are immeasurable. One is the indescribable inner peace and serenity that come from knowing we are doing what is right; another is an absence of the guilt and anxiety that accompany sin. Another reward of integrity is the confidence it can give us in approaching God. When virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly, our confidence is strong in the presence of God.

Sin can bring pleasure, but never happiness.

A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the world: if the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses of the public.

The great theatre for virtue is conscience.

Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.

There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience or none at all.

A good conscience is a continual feast.

Respect for self is the beginning of cultivating virtue in men and women.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.

Man is most happy, when his own actions are arguments and examples of his virtue.

I have a very clear conscience.

Honesty is a selfish virtue. Yes I am honest enough.

Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others. It is not obedience to authority, and while it is often consistent with and reinforced by religious belief, it is not piety.

Whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery. That is the great message of the Bible from beginning to end. They alone are truly happy who are seeking to be righteous.

It is not right or manly to lie even about Satan.

[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists . . . an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.

Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

Riches and power are but gifts of blind fate, whereas goodness is the result of one's own merits.

There is no greater wealth than Virtue,And no greater loss than to forget it.

What is the real relation between happiness and goodness? It is only within a few generations that men have found courage to say that there is none.

The happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.

He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping. Therefore be sure you look to that, and in the next place look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to a good conscience.

The measure of any man's virtue is what he would do, if he had neither the laws nor public opinion, nor even his own prejudices, to control him.

To be good and disagreeable is high treason against the royalty of virtue.