George Savile (1633 – 1695)
English statesman, writer, and politician.
Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught.
Nothing is less forgiven than setting Patterns Men have no mind to follow.
The best Qualification of a Prophet is to have a good Memory.
A Husband without Faults is a dangerous Observer.
Laws are generally not understood by three sorts of persons, viz. by those who make them, by those who execute them, and by those who suffer, if they break them.
No Man is so much a Fool as not to have Wit enough sometimes to be a Knave ; nor any so cunning a Knave, as not to have the Weakness sometimes to play the Fool.
It is a general Mistake to think the Men we like are good for every thing, and those we do not, good for nothing.
In your Clothes avoid too much Gaudy ; do not value your self upon an Imbroidered Gown ; and remember, that a reasonable Word, or an obliging Look, will gain you more respect, than all your fine Trappings.
A Prince who will not undergo the Difficulty of Understanding, must undergo the Danger of Trusting.
When the People contend for their Liberty, they seldom get any thing by their Victory but new Masters.
Money hath too great a Preference given to it by States, as well as by particular Men.
MANY Men swallow the being cheated, but no Man could ever endure to chew it.
A man that should call every thing by its right Name, would hardly pass the Streets without being knock'd down as a common Enemy.
Men take more pains to hide than to mend themselves.
If Men considered how many Things there are that Riches cannot buy, they would not be so fond of them.
Popularity is a Crime from the Moment it is sought ; it is only a Virtue where Men have it whether they will or no.
In this Age, when it is said of a Man, He knows how to live , it may be imply’d he is not very honest.
It is not a reproach but a compliment to learning, to say, that great scholars are less fit for business; since the truth is, business is so much a lower thing than learning, that a man used to the last cannot easily bring his stomach down to the first.
The first mistake belonging to business is the going into it.
Suspicion seldom wanteth Food to keep it up in Health and Vigour. It feedeth upon every thing it seeth, and is not curious in its Diet.