Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
-
Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
-
Our incomes should be like our shoes; if too small, they will gall and pinch us; but if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip.
-
Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.
-
The consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them. Thus the American Revolution, from which little was expected, produced much; but the French Revolution, from which much was expected, produced little.
-
A feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation.
-
An elegant writer has observed, that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife.
-
When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
-
Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.
-
Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books.
-
True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.
-
To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it; for when we fail, our pride supports us - when we succeed, it betrays us.
-
Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.
-
In life we shall find many men that are great, and some that are good, but very few men that are both great and good.
-
If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win.
-
Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance.
-
Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.
-
War kills men, and men deplore the loss; but war also crushes bad principles and tyrants, and so saves societies.
-
Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.
-
Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.
-
Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship - never.
-
The firmest of friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame.
-
To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.
-
If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself; all that runs over will be yours.
-
Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.