Charles Caleb Colton quotes
On Writing and
Reading
“Many books require no thought from those who read them,
and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote
them.”
“Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real
difficulty and its apparent ease.”
“Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these
are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.”
On Friendship
“True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is
seldom known until it be lost.”
“If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her
above the brim with love of herself ~ all that runs over will be yours.”
“Friendship often
ends in love. But love in friendship; never.”
“The firmest
friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the
fiercest flame”
“A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth
more."
“No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to
catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than
health.”
“Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is
that of a good book.”
The Habits of
Mankind
“Most men know what they hate; few what they love”
“Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health
is the most enjoyed, but the least envied.”
“We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we
will not know them because we hate them.”
“Men are born with two eyes but only one tongue in order that they should see
twice as much as they say.”
“Men spend their lives in anticipations,—in determining
to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has
one advantage over every other—it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, the
future has not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a
stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that
both are soured by age.”
Profundity
“When you have nothing to say, say nothing.”
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
“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.”
“Times of great calamity
and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is
produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from
the darkest storm.”
“A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not
infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we
mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for
erudition.”
