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One of the greatest difficulties in civil war is, that more art is required to know what should be concealed from our friends, than what ought to be done against our enemies.

Lord Chesterfield

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Lord Chesterfield
Art
Civil
Done
Enemies
Difficulty
Ought
Greatest
Enemy
Concealed
Friends
Difficulties
War
Required

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It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in. One yawns, one procrastinates, one can do it when one will, and therefore one seldom does it at all.
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A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners.
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Sincerity w the most compendious wisdom, an excellent instrument for the speedy despatch of business. It creates confidence in those we have to deal with, saves the labor of many inquiries, and brings things to an issue in few words.
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If you can once engage people's pride, love, pity, ambition on your side, you need not fear what their reason can do against you.
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Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge into a degree of contempt. They compose at most a merry fellow and a merry fellow was never yet a respectable man.
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It is by vivacity and wit that man shines in company but trite jokes and loud laughter reduce him to a buffoon.
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To write anything tolerable, the mind must be in a natural, proper disposition provocatives, in that case, as well as in another,will only produce miserable, abortive performances.
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No man tastes pleasures truly, who does not earn them by previous business and few people do business well, who do nothing else.
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Though we cannot totally change our nature, we may in great measure correct it by reflection and philosophy and some philosophy is a very necessary companion in this world, where, even to the most fortunate, the chances are greatly against happiness.
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If you have wit, use it to please and not to hurt: you may shine like the sun in the temperate zones without scorching.
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