May Quotes by Charles Caleb Colton

Where we cannot invent, we may at least improve.

— Charles Caleb Colton

Subtract from many modern poets all that may be found in Shakespeare, and trash will remain.

— Charles Caleb Colton

Wit may do very well for a mistress, but [I] should prefer reason for a wife.

— Charles Caleb Colton

A house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them.

— Charles Caleb Colton

A wise man may be duped as well as a fool; but the fool publishes the triumph of the deceiver.

— Charles Caleb Colton

We may anticipate bliss, but who ever drank of that enchanted cup unalloved?

— Charles Caleb Colton

Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow.

— Charles Caleb Colton

Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase.

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

It is much easier to ruin a man of principle than a man of none, for he may be ruined through his…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Many a man may thank his talent for his rank, but no man has ever been able to return the compliment by…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Adroit observers will find that some who affect to dislike flattery, may yet be flattered indirectly, by a well seasoned abuse and…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Strong as our passions are, they may be starved into submission, and conquered without being killed.

— Charles Caleb Colton

A man's profundity may keep him from opening on a first interview, and his caution on a second; but I should suspect…

— Charles Caleb Colton

The avarice of the miser may be termed the grand sepulchral of all his other passions, as they successively decay.

— Charles Caleb Colton

When in reading we meet with any maxim that may be of use, we should take it for our own, and make…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Of present fame think little, and of future less; the praises that we receive after we are buried, like the flowers that…

— Charles Caleb Colton

In cases of doubtful morality, it is usual to say is there any harm in doing this? This question may sometimes be…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Many ... begin to make converts from motives of charity, but continue to do so from motives of pride. ... Charity is…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Happiness is much more equally divided than some of us imagine. One man shall possess most of the materials, but little of…

— Charles Caleb Colton

To diminish envy, let us consider not what others possess, but what they enjoy; mere riches may be the gift of lucky…

— Charles Caleb Colton

There is an elasticity in the human mind, capable of bearing much, but which will not show itself, until a certain weight…

— Charles Caleb Colton

To be continually subject to the breath of slander, will tarnish the purest virtue, as a constant exposure to the atmosphere will…

— Charles Caleb Colton

The truly great consider, first, how they may gain the approbation of God, and, secondly, that of their own conscience. Having done…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Men spend their lives in anticipations,—in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time…

— Charles Caleb Colton

As the grand discordant harmony of the celestial bodies may be explained by the simple principles of gravity and impulse, so also…

— Charles Caleb Colton

There is no quality of the mind, or of the body, that so instantaneously and irresistibly captivates, as wit. An elegant writer…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Pride differs in many things from vanity, and by gradations that never blend, although they may be somewhat indistinguishable. Pride may perhaps…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Some well-meaning Christians tremble for their salvation, because they have never gone through that valley of tears and of sorrow, which they…

— Charles Caleb Colton

A town, before it can be plundered and, deserted, must first be taken; and in this particular Venus has borrowed a law…

— Charles Caleb Colton

The blindness of bigotry, the madness of ambition, and the miscalculations of diplomacy seek their victims principally amongst the innocent and the…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.

— Charles Caleb Colton

The acquirements of science may be termed the armour of the mind; but that armour would be worse than useless, that cost…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Total freedom from error is what none of us will allow to our neighbors; however we may be inclined to flirt a…

— Charles Caleb Colton

From the preponderance of talent, we may always infer the soundness and vigour of the commonwealth; but from the preponderance of riches,…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Whenever we find ourselves more inclined to persecute than to persuade, we may then be certain that our zeal has more of…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow; but the misfortune is that in this particular case, the substance belongs…

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer tasting…

— Charles Caleb Colton

Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.

— Charles Caleb Colton