Little minds mistake little objects for great ones, and lavish away upon the former that time and attention which only the latter deserve. To such mistakes we owe the numerous and frivolous tribe of insect-mongers, shell-mongers, and pursuers and driers of butterflies, etc. The strong mind distinguishes, not only between the useful and the useless, but likewise between the useful and the curious.

— Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

More quotes by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)

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