Doug's Blog: How Loyal Fathers Honorably Correct Sons

An uninterrupted life of pleasure is as insipid as contemptible...A surfeited glutton, an emaciated sot, and an enervated rotten whoremaster never enjoy the pleasures to which they devote themselves; they are only so many human sacrifices to false gods...pleasure must not, nay cannot, be the business of a man of sense and character.... For, as I have often formally observed to you, nobody but a father can take the liberty to reprove a young fellow grown up for those kind of inaccuracies and improprieties of behavior. The most intimate friendship unassisted by the paternal authority will not authorize it. I may truly say, therefore, that you are happy in having me for a sincere, friendly, and quicksighted monitor. Nothing will escape me. I shall pry for your defects, in order to correct them, as curiously as I shall seek for your perfections in order to applaud and reward them; with this difference only, that I shall publicly mention the latter, and never hint at the former, but in a letter to, or a tête-à-tête with you.” From Lord Chesterfield, “Letters of Lord Chesterfield to His Son”