Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
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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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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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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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Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books.
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War kills men, and men deplore the loss; but war also crushes bad principles and tyrants, and so saves societies.
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When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
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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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A feast is more fatal to love than a fast, and a surfeit than a starvation.
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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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Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.
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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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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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Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.
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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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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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Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance.
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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.
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In religion as in politics it so happens that we have less charity for those who believe half our creed, than for those who deny the whole of it.
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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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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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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.
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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
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If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win.
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Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.