Charles Caleb Colton Quotes - Page 13

• No two things differ more than hurry and dispatch. Hurry is the mark of a weak mind, dispatch of a strong one. A weak man in office, like a squirrel in a cage, is laboring eternally, but to no purpose, and is in constant motion without getting on a job; like a turnstile, he is in everybody's way, but stops nobody; he talks a great deal, but says very little; looks into everything but sees nothing; and has a hundred irons in the fire, but very few of them are hot, and with those few that are, he only burns his fingers.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Strong, Jobs, Men

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• In death itself there can be nothing terrible, for the act of death annihilates sensation; but there are many roads to death, and some of them justly formidable, even to the bravest.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Terrible, Formidable, Sensations

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.186

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Writing, Blood, May

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.9

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Real, Deceit, Our Actions

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.62

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• Genius, when employed in works whose tendency it is to demoralize and to degrade us, should be contemplated with abhorrence rather than with admiration; such a monument of its power, may indeed be stamped with immortality, but like the Coliseum at Rome, we deplore its magnificence because we detest the purposes for which it was designed.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Rome, Purpose, Genius

  Charles Caleb Colton (1821). “Lacon: or, Many things in few words”, p.239

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• Wit may do very well for a mistress, but [I] should prefer reason for a wife.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Wife, Mistress, May

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.47

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• In pulpit eloquence, the grand difficulty lies here--to give the subject all the dignity it so fully deserves, without attaching any importance to ourselves. The Christian messenger cannot think too highly of his prince, nor too humbly of himself.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Christian, Lying, Thinking

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.44

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• Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Inspirational, Courage, Men

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.92

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• The blindness of bigotry, the madness of ambition, and the miscalculations of diplomacy seek their victims principally amongst the innocent and the unoffending. The cottage is sure to suffer for every error of the court, the cabinet, or the camp. When error sits in the seat of power and of authority, and is generated in high places, it may be compared to that torrent which originates indeed in the mountain, but commits its devastation in the vale.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Ambition, Errors, Suffering

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.19

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• Custom looks to things that are past, and fashion to things that are present, but both of them are somewhat purblind as to things that are to come.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Fashion, Past, Looks

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.232

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• I question if Epicurus and Hume have done mankind a greater service by the looseness of their doctrines than by the purity of their lives. Of such men we may more justly exclaim, than of Caesar, "Confound their virtues, they've undone the world!

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Men, Example, Doctrine

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• With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose; for good books are as scarce as good companions...

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Book, Writing, Companion

  "Lacon, Or, Many Things in Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think". Book by Charles Caleb Colton, 1820.

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• If our eloquence be directed above the heads of our hearers, we shall do no execution. By pointing our arguments low, we stand a chance of hitting their hearts as well as their heads. In addressing angels, we could hardly raise our eloquence too high; but we must remember that men are not angels.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Heart, Angel, Men

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.147

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• Novels may teach us as wholesome a moral as the pulpit. There are "sermons in stones," in healthy books, and "good in everything.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Book, Healthy, May

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• The temple of truth is built indeed of stones of crystal, but, inasmuch as men have been concerned in rearing it, it has been consolidated by a cement composed of baser materials.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Men, Stones, Crystals

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

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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. Could they be explained, they would cease to be mysteries; and it has been well said that a thing is not necessarily against reason because it happens to be above it.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Order, Matter, Mystery

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

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• Pride, like the magnet, constantly points to one object, self; but, unlike the magnet, it has no attractive pole, but at all points repels.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Pride, Self, Attractive

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.72

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• Logic and metaphysics make use of more tools than all the rest of the sciences put together, and do the least work.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Together, Tools, Use

  Charles Caleb Colton (1823). “Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan”, p.231

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• Gaming has been resorted to by the affluent as a refuge from ennui. It is a mental dram, and may succeed for a moment; but, like all other stimuli, it produces indirect debility.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Gambling, May, Succeed

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.147

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• Many ... begin to make converts from motives of charity, but continue to do so from motives of pride. ... Charity is contented with exhortation and example, but pride is not to be so easily satisfied. ... Whenever we find ourselves more inclined to persecute than persuade, we may then be certain that our zeal has more of pride in it than of charity.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Pride, Example, Charity

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

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Light, Moral, Materials

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.421

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• It has been well observed that we should treat futurity as an aged friend from whom we expect a rich legacy.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Legacy, Rich, Should

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.52

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• To despise our own species is the price we must often pay for knowledge of it.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Knowledge, Pay, Despise

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• A society composed of none but the wicked could not exist; it contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction, and without a flood, would be swept away from the earth by the deluge of its own iniquity.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Wicked, Would Be, Earth

  Charles Caleb COLTON (1849). “L.P.”, p.116

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• Oppression cannot prosper where none will submit to be enslaved.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Oppression, Submit

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.67

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