Charles Caleb Colton Quotes - Page 22

• Levity is often less foolish and gravity less wise than each of them appears.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Wise, Foolish, Gravity

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.169

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• Anguish of mind has driven thousands to suicide; anguish of body, none. This proves that the health of the mind is of far more consequence to our happiness than the health of the body, although both are deserving of much more attention than either of them receive.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Suicide, Health, Mind

  Charles Caleb Colton (1821). “Lacon: or, Many things in few words”, p.240

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• It is a mortifying truth, and ought to teach the wisest of us humility, that many of the most valuable discoveries have been the result of chance rather than of contemplation, and of accident rather than of design.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Humility, Discovery, Design

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.82

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• The French revolution was a .eune invented and constructed for the purpose of manufacturing liberty; but it had neither lever cogs, nor adjusting powers, and the consequences were that it worked so rapidly that it destroyed its own inventors, and set itself on fire.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Fire, Liberty, Cogs

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• The interests of society often render it expedient not to utter the whole truth, the interests of science never: for in this field we have much more to fear from the deficiency of truth than from its abundance.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Truth, Fear, Fields

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Unity, Mind, Spurs

  Charles Caleb Colton (1825). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words : Addressed to Those who Think”, p.83

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• If you want enemies, excel others; if you want friends, let others excel you.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Enemy, Want, Ifs

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.476

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• Kings and their subjects, masters and slaves, find a common level in two places - at the foot of the cross, and in the grave.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Kings, Two, Feet

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Charles Caleb Colton, p. 41, 1895.

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• We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Book, Merit, Lovers

  Charles Caleb COLTON (1849). “L.P.”, p.426

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• The benevolent have the advantage of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious man is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another; whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the complacency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Gratitude, Men, Serenity

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Gold, Noble, Affliction

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• As in the game of billiards, the balls are constantly producing effects from mere chance, which the most skillful player could neither execute nor foresee, but which, when they do happen, serve mainly to teach him how much he has still to learn; so it is in the most profound and complicated game of politics and diplomacy. In both cases, we can only regulate our play by what we have seen, rather than by what we have hoped; and by what we have experienced, rather than by what we have expected.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Player, Games, Profound

  Lacon: or many things in afew words (p. 345)

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• Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Love, Love Is, Alchemist

  Charles Caleb Colton (1866). “Lacon: or, Many things in few words”, p.195

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• Love is a volcano, the crater of which no wise man will approach too nearly, lest ... he should be swallowed up.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Love, Wise, Men

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.358

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• Love, like the cold bath, is never negative, it seldom leaves us where it finds us; if once we plunge into it, it will either heighten our virtues, or inflame our vices.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Love, Vices, Negative

  Charles Caleb Colton (1823). “Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan”, p.184

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• So long as lust, whether of the world or flesh, smells sweet in our nostrils, so long we are loathsome to God.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Sweet, Smell, Long

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• He that gives a portion of his time and talent to the investigation of mathematical truth, will come to all other questions with a decided advantage over his opponents.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Giving, Opponents, Talent

  Charles Caleb Colton (1823). “Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan”, p.159

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• Modesty is the richest ornament of a woman ... the want of it is her greatest deformity.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Women, Ornaments, Want

  Charles Caleb Colton (1821). “Lacon: or, Many things in few words”, p.139

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• Opinions, like showers, are generated in high places, but they invariably descend into lower ones, and ultimately flow down to the people as rain unto the sea.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Rain, Sea, People

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.391

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• We injure mysteries, which are matters of faith by any attempt at explanation in order to make them matters of reason.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Order, Matter, Mystery

  Charles Caleb Colton (1823). “Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan”

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• Nobility is a river that sets with a constant and undeviating current, directly into the great Pacific Ocean of Time; but, unlike all other rivers, it is more grand at its source, than at its termination.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Ocean, Rivers, Source

  Philip Dormer Stanhope (4th earl of Chesterfield.), Charles Caleb Colton (1861). “Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son on men and manners. To which are added, selections from Colton's 'Lacon'.”, p.191

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• He that aspires to be the head of a party will find it more difficult to please his friends than to perplex his foes. He must often act from false reasons which are weak, because he dares not avow the true reasons which are strong.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Strong, Party, Reason

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.27

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• 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

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Heart, Neutrality, May

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.170

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• It is an easy and vulgar thing to please the mob, and not a very arduous task to astonish them; but essentially to benefit and to improve them is a work fraught with difficulty, and teeming with danger.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Benefits, Tasks, Easy

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.195

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• Unity of opinion is indeed a glorious and desirable thing, and its circle cannot be too strong and extended, if the centre be truth; but if the centre be error, the greater the circumference, the greater the evil.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Strong, Errors, Circles

  Charles Caleb Colton (1828). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words Addressed to Those who Think”, p.110

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