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We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will…

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), 19 December 1749.

English (original)

We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it.

— Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

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