Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
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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.
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The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world.
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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.
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Nothing so completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.
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The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other.
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Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books.
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Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.
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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.
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When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
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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.
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Tyrants have not yet discovered any chains that can fetter the mind.
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A feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation.
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Ladies of Fashion starve their happiness to feed their vanity, and their love to feed their pride.
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Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance.
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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.
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An elegant writer has observed, that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife.
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Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.
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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
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Of present fame think little, and of future less; the praises that we receive after we are buried, like the flowers that are strewed over our grave, may be gratifying to the living, but they are nothing to the dead.
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Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.
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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.
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It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies; seldom safe to venture to instruct, even our friends.
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If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win.
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The firmest of friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame.