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.”