Genius, in one respect, is like gold; numbers of persons are constantly writing about both, who have neither. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
The greatest genius is never so great as when it is chastised and subdued by the highest reason. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
To be a mere verbal critic is what no man of genius would be if he could; but to be a critic… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
The drafts which true genius draws upon posterity, although they may not always be honored so soon as they are due, are… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Genius in one grand particular is like life. We know nothing of either but by their effects. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Style is indeed the valet of genius, and an able one too; but as the true gentleman will appear, even in rags,… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
With the offspring of genius, the law of parturition is reversed; the throes are in the conception, the pleasure in the birth. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Literature has her quacks no less than medicine, and they are divided into two classes; those who have erudition without genius, and… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Genius, when employed in works whose tendency it is to demoralize and to degrade us, should be contemplated with abhorrence rather than… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
There are circumstances of peculiar difficulty and danger, where a mediocrity of talent is the most fatal quantum that a man can… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
All preceptors should have that kind of genius described by Tacitus, "equal to their business, but not above it;" a patient industry,… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Repartee is perfect when it effects its purpose with a double edge. It is the highest order of wit, as it indicates… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
When a man has displayed talent in some particular path, and left all competitors behind him in it, the world are too… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Neither can we admit that definition of genius that some would propose--"a power to accomplish all that we undertake;" for we might… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
We submit to the society of those that can inform us, but we seek the society of those whom we can inform.… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Extemporaneous and oral harangues will always have this advantage over those that are read from a in manuscript: every burst of eloquence… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Villainy that is vigilant will be an overmatch for virtue, if she slumber at her post. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
A beautiful woman, if poor, should use double circumspection; for her beauty will tempt others, her poverty herself. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Were the life of man prolonged, he would become such a proficient in villainy, that it would become necessary again to drown or to… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
It is doubtful whether mankind are most indebted to those who like Bacon and Butler dig the gold from the mine of literature, or… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a fatal but common error. Where one has been saved… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Mental pleasures never cloy; unlike those of the body, they are increased by reputation, approved by reflection, and strengthened by enjoyment. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Ignorance lies at the bottom of all human knowledge, and the deeper we penetrate, the nearer we arrive unto it. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Heroism, self-denial, and magnanimity, in all instances where they do not spring from a principle of religion, are but splendid altars on which we… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
We ought not to be over-anxious to encourage innovation in cases of doubtful improvement, for an old system must ever have two advantages over… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Metaphysicians have been learning their lessons for the last four thousand years, and it is high time that they should now begin to teach… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
Faith and works are necessary to our spiritual life as Christians, as soul and body are to our natural life as men; for faith… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
When all moves equally (says Pascal), nothing seems to move as in a vessel under sail; and when all run by common consent into… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share
