Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Quotes

Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.

Have more than you show, Speak less than you know.

Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so.

Knowing what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

It is well for one to know more than he says.

Be sure your wisest words are those you do not say.

You know, I have found out in the course of a long public life that the things I did not say never hurt me.

Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise.

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.

Sometimes you usually know the point where to keep your mouth shut.

Discretion is a very valuable asset.

Be smart, but never show it.

Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is invariably more important than opening it at the right time.

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

Notable talents are not necessarily connected with discretion.

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it.

We must watch over our modesty in the presence of those who cannot understand its grounds.

One of the most beneficial things I've ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.

I tell it like it is, but I don't voice my opinion unless it's asked for.