Charles Caleb Colton Quotes - Page 23

• It was observed of Elizabeth that she was weak herself, but chose wise counsellors; to which it was replied, that to choose wise counsellors was, in a prince, the highest wisdom.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Wise, Character, Weak

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.40

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• If there be a pleasure on earth which angels cannot enjoy, and which they might almost envy man the possession of, it is the power of relieving distress--if there be a pain which devils might pity man for enduring, it is the death-bed reflection that we have possessed the power of doing good, but that we have abused and perverted it to purposes of ill.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Pain, Angel, Reflection

  Charles Caleb COLTON (1849). “L.P.”, p.205

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• Hannibal knew better how to conquer than how to profit by the conquest; and Napoleon was more skilful in taking positions than in maintaining them. As to reverses, no general cart presume to say that he may not be defeated; but he can, and ought to say, that he will not be surprised.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  May, Maintaining, Conquer

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Courage, Cutting, Fire

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.356

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Death, Two, Sound

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.371

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Death, Hands, Body

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

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• Worldly wisdom dictates to her disciples the propriety of dressing somewhat beyond their means, but of living somewhat within them.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Mean, Propriety, Disciple

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.112

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• If all seconds were as averse to duels as their principals, very little blood would be shed in that way.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Blood, Dueling, Would Be

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.44

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Equality, Long Ago, Ridiculous

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• No propagation or multiplication is more rapid that that of evil, unless it be checked; no growth more certain.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Evil, Growth, Rapids

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• Posthumous fame is a plant of tardy growth, for our body must be the seed of it; or we may liken it to a torch, which nothing but the last spark of life can light up; or we may compare it to the trumpet of the archangel, for it is blown over the dead; but unlike that awful blast, it is of earth, not of heaven, and can neither rouse nor raise us.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Light, Heaven, Growth

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.365

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• Fashion is the veriest goddess of semblance and of shade; to be happy is of far less consequence to her worshippers than to appear so; even pleasure itself they sacrifice to parade, and enjoyment to ostentation.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Fashion, Sacrifice, Shade

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.255

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• There are some men who are fortune's favorites, and who, like cats, light forever on their legs.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Cat, Men, Light

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• Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food--and a spaniel, that prefers even punishment from one hand to caresses from another. But it is in love as in war, we are often more indebted for our success to the weakness of the defence than to the energy of the attack; for mere idleness has ruined more women than passion; vanity more than idleness, and credulity more than either.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Love, War, Passion

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• Like the rainbow, peace rests upon the earth, but its arch is lost in heaven. Heaven bathes it in hues of light--it springs up amid tears and clouds--it is a reflection of the eternal sun--it is an assurance of calm--it is the sign of a great covenant between God and man--it is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Peace, Spring, Reflection

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• Peace is the evening star of the soul, as virtue is its sun, and the two are never far apart.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Peace, Stars, Two

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• 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.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Power, Giving, Exaltation

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.23

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• There are three kinds of power,--wealth, strength, and talent; but as old age always weakens, often destroys, the two latter, the aged are induced to cling with the greater avidity to the former.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Power, Two, Age

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.26

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• 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?

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Heart, Soul, Faces

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• We strive as hard to hide our hearts from ourselves as from others, and always with more success; for in deciding upon our own case we are both judge, jury, and executioner, and where sophistry cannot overcome the first, or flattery the second, self-love is always ready to defeat the sentence by bribing the third.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Heart, Love Is, Self

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

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• Despotism can no more exist in a nation until the liberty of the press be destroyed than the night can happen before the sun is set.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Night, Liberty, Sun

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.198

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• Dreams ought to produce no conviction whatever on philosophical minds. If we consider how many dreams are dreamt every night, and how many events occur every day, we shall no longer wonder at those accidental coincidences which ignorance mistakes for verifications.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Dream, Mistake, Philosophical

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.211

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• The enthusiast has been compared to a man walking in a fog; everything immediately around him, or in contact with him, appears sufficiently clear and luminous; but beyond the little circle of which he himself is the centre, all is mist and error and confusion.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Men, Circles, Errors

  Charles Caleb Colton (1821). “Lacon: or, Many things in few words”, p.22

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• Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exalt herself by a victory; envy spies out blemishes that she may lower another by defeat.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Envy, Victory, Spy

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.436

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• The hate which we all bear with the most Christian patience is the hate of those who envy us.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Christian, Hate, Envy

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.114

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