It is always easy to shut a book, but not quite so easy to get rid of a lettered coxcomb. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
He that studies books alone, will know how things ought to be; and he that studies men, will know how things are. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Novels may teach us as wholesome a moral as the pulpit. There are "sermons in stones," in healthy books, and "good in… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
He who studies books alone will know how things ought to be, and he who studies men will know how they are. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
He that studies only men will get the body of knowledge without the soul; and he that studies only books, the soul… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
The society of dead authors has this advantage over that of the living: they never flatter us to our faces, nor slander… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Justice to my readers compels me to admit that I write because I have nothing to do; justice to myself induces me… — 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
Criticism discloses that which it would fain conceal, but conceals that which it professes to disclose; it is therefore, read by the… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Perhaps that is nearly the perfection of good writing which is original, but whose truth alone prevents the reader from suspecting that… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Life isn't like a book. Life isn't logical or sensible or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time. And theology… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose, for good books… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
There are three difficulties in authorship;-to write any thing worth the publishing-to find honest men to publish it -and to get sensible… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Some authors write nonsense in a clear style, and others sense in an obscure one; some can reason without being able to… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Living authors, therefore, are usually, bad companions. If they have not gained character, they seek to do so by methods often ridiculous,… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Many books owe their success to the good memories of their authors and the bad memories of their readers. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
If a book really wants the patronage of a great name, it is a bad book; and if it be a good… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
“Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of a good book.” — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose; for good books… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
It is doubtful whether mankind are most indebted to those who like Bacon and Butler dig the gold from the mine of… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
I have somewhere seen it observed that we should make the same use of a book that the bee does of a… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
That an author's work is the mirror of his mind is a position that has led to very false conclusions. If Satan… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Memory is the friend of wit, but the treacherous ally of invention; there are many books that owe their success to two… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
The awkwardness and embarrassment which all feel on beginning to write, when they themselves are the theme, ought to serve as a… — 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 Image
A beautiful woman, if poor, should use double circumspection; for her beauty will tempt others, her poverty herself. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
