C. C. Colton Quotes

Constant success shows us but one side of the world. For as it surrounds us with friends who will tell us only our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom alone we can learn our defects.

There are three modes of bearing the ills of life; by indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual.

Theories are private property, but truth is common stock.

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.

That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.

An Irish man fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order of precedence, but will do either to accommodate his customers.

Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.

Many speak the truth when they say that they despise riches, but they mean the riches possessed by others.

Pure truth, like pure gold, has been found unfit for circulation because men have discovered that it is far more convenient to adulterate the truth than to refine themselves.

True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.

Afflictions sent by providence melt the constancy of the noble minded, but confirm the obduracy of the vile, as the same furnace that liquefies the gold, hardens the clay Charles Caleb Colton.

The mob is a monster, with the hands of Briareus, but the head of Polyphemus,--strong to execute, but blind to perceive.

Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.

It is better to meet danger than to wait for it.

Envy, if surrounded on all sides by the brightness of another's prosperity, like the scorpion confined within a circle of fire, will sting itself to death.

No metaphysician ever felt the deficiency of language so much as the grateful.

Tyrants have not yet discovered any chains that can fetter the mind.

Men's arguments often prove nothing but their wishes.

Doubt is the vestibule through which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom.

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

The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ, are usually concealed; but the gilded and hollow pretext is pompously placed in the front for show.

Taking things not as they ought to be, but as they are, I fear it must be allowed that Macchiavelli will always have more disciples than Jesus.

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.

Sleep, the type of death, is also, like that which it typifies, restricted to the earth. It flies from hell and is excluded from heaven.

Style is indeed the valet of genius, and an able one too; but as the true gentleman will appear, even in rags, so true genius will shine, even through the coarsest style.

Purity lives and derives its life solely from the Spirit of God.

Faith and works are necessary to our spiritual life as Christians, as soul and body are to our natural life as men; for faith is the soul of religion, and works the body.

Light, whether it be material or moral, is the best reformer.

For one man who sincerely pities our misfortunes, there are a thousand who sincerely hate our success.

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

Were we as eloquent as angels we still would please people much more by listening rather than talking.

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.

Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Bigotry murders religion to frighten fools with her ghost.

Truth can hardly be expected to adapt herself to the crooked policy and wily sinuosities of worldly affairs; for truth, like light, travels only in straight lines.

God will excuse our prayers for ourselves whenever we are prevented from them by being occupied in such good works as to entitle us to the prayers of others.

Injuries accompanied with insults are never forgiven: all men, on these occasions, are good haters, and lay out their revenge at compound interest.

There are prating coxcombs in the world who would rather talk than listen, although Shakespeare himself were the orator, and human nature the theme!

Falsehood is often rocked by truth, but she soon outgrows her cradle and discards her nurse.

The praise of the envious is far less creditable than their censure; they praise only that which they can surpass, but that which surpasses them they censure.

It is good to act as if. It is even better to grow to the point where it is no longer an act.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

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

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.

Philosophy is a goddess, whose head indeed is in heaven, but whose feet are upon earth; she attempts more than she accomplishes, and promises more than she performs.

There were moments of despondency when Shakespeare thought himself no poet, and Raphael no painter; when the greatest wits have doubted the excellence of their happiest efforts.

Neutrality is no favorite with Providence, for we are so formed that it is scarcely possible for us to stand neuter in our hearts, although we may deem it prudent to appear so in our actions

There are only two things in which the false professors of all religions have agreed--to persecute all other sects and to plunder their own.

There are male as well as female gossips.

It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies; seldom safe to venture to instruct, even our friends.