Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
To be a mere verbal critic is what no man of genius would be if he could; but to be a critic of true taste and feeling is what no man without genius could be if he would.
Precisely in proportion to our own intellectual weakness will be our credulity as to those mysterious powers assumed by others.
There is this paradox in pride - it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.
The hand that unnerved Belshazzar derived its most horrifying influence from the want of a body, and death itself is not formidable in what we do know of it, but in what we do not.
A leveller has long ago been set down as a ridiculous and chimerical being, who, if he could finish his work to-day, would have to begin it again tomorrow.
No propagation or multiplication is more rapid that that of evil, unless it be checked; no growth more certain.
Deformity of the heart I call The worst deformity of all; For what is form, or what is face, But the soul's index, or its case?
Death is like thunder in two particulars; we are alarmed, at the sound of it; and it is formidable only from that which preceded it.
Courage is like the diamond,--very brilliant; not changed by fire, capable of high polish, but except for the purpose of cutting hard bodies useless.
He that has never known adversity is but half acquainted with others, or with himself.
Any one can give advice, such as it is, but only a wise man knows how to profit by it.
None are so seldom found alone, and are so soon tired of their own company, as those coxcombs who are on the best terms with themselves.
Pedantry crams our heads with learned lumber and takes out our brains to make room for it.
Riches may enable us to confer favors, but to confer them with propriety and grace requires a something that riches cannot give.
Success seems to be that which forms the distinction between confidence and conceit.
Eloquence is the language of nature, and cannot be learned in the schools; but rhetoric is the creature of art, which he who feels least will most excel in.
Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase.
A coxcomb begins by determining that his own profession is the first; and he finishes by deciding that he is the first of profession.
The avarice of the miser may be termed the grand sepulchral of all his other passions, as they successively decay.
Pedantry prides herself on being wrong by rules; while common sense is contented to be right without them.
The three great apostles of practical atheism, that make converts without persecuting, and retain them without preaching, are wealth, health and power.
Power, like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it gives authority; to what is low, exaltation.
Nobility of birth does not always insure a corresponding unity of mind; if it did, it would always act as a stimulus to noble actions; but it sometimes acts as a clog rather than a spur.
Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exalt herself by a victory; envy spies out blemishes that she may lower another by defeat.
So long as lust, whether of the world or flesh, smells sweet in our nostrils, so long we are loathsome to God.
Pride, like the magnet, constantly points to one object, self; but, unlike the magnet, it has no attractive pole, but at all points repels.
The seeds of repentance are sown in youth by pleasure, but the harvest is reaped in age by pain.
With the offspring of genius, the law of parturition is reversed; the throes are in the conception, the pleasure in the birth.
When you have nothing to say, say nothing; a weak defense strengthens your opponent, and silence is less injurious than a bad reply.
The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.
We are more inclined to hate one another for points on which we differ, than to love one another for points on which we agree.
The victim to too severe a law is considered as a martyr rather than a criminal.
The good opinion of our fellow men is the strongest, though not the purest motive to virtue.
It is best, if possible, to deceive no one; for he that ... begins by deceiving others, will end ... by deceiving himself.
Honor is the most capricious in her rewards. She feeds us with air, and often pulls down our house, to build our monument.
The French have a saying that whatever excellence a man may exhibit in a public station he is very apt to be ridiculous in a private one.
Words indeed are but the signs and counters of knowledge, and their currency should be strictly regulated by the capital which they represent.
We know the effects of many things, but the cause of few; experience, therefore, is a surer guide than imagination, and inquiry than conjecture.
Is there anything more tedious than the often repeated tales of the old and forgetful?
A high degree of intellectual refinement in the female is the surest pledge society can have for the improvement of the male.
Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow; but the misfortune is that in this particular case, the substance belongs to the shadow, the emptiness to its cause.
It may be observed of good writing, as of good blood, that it is much easier to say what it is composed of than to compose it.
Secrecy is the soul of all great designs. Perhaps more has been effected by concealing our own intentions than by discovering those of our enemy.
Courage is generosity of the highest order, for the brave are prodigal of the most precious things.
Subtract from many modern poets all that may be found in Shakespeare, and trash will remain.
Whenever we find ourselves more inclined to persecute than to persuade, we may then be certain that our zeal has more of pride in it than of charity.