Charles Caleb Colton quotes

“If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“There is this difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“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.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Marriage is a feast where the grace is sometimes better than the dinner.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“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.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“There are two way of establishing a reputation, one to be praised by honest people and the other to be accused by rogues. It is best, however, to secure the first one, because it will always be accompanied by the latter.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“He who studies books alone will know how things ought to be, and he who studies men will know how they are.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“We own almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Law and equity are two things which God has joined, but which man has put asunder.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“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.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“The present time has one advantage over every other - it is our own.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Friendship, of itself a holy tie, is made more sacred by adversity.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real difficulty and its apparent ease.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“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.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“The excess of our youth are checks written against our age and they are payable with interest thirty years later.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“The firmest of friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

“To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread.”

— Charles Caleb Colton