Quote#Art
I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of…
Quote byPhilip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield · 1694–1773
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774), 22 May 1749.
English (original)
I recommend to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art: that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify, the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual.
— Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
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