Writer Quotes by Charles Caleb Colton

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

Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books.

— Charles Caleb Colton

It is always easy to shut a book, but not quite so easy to get rid of a lettered coxcomb.

— Charles Caleb Colton

We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit.

— Charles Caleb Colton

Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real difficulty and its apparent ease.

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

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

“Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of a good book.”

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

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

The Grecian’s maxim would indeed be a sweeping clause in Literature; it would reduce many a giant to a pygmy; many a…

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

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

There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing, to find honest men to publish it, and to find sensible…

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

There are three difficulties in authorship; to write any thing worth the publishing — to find honest men to publish it —…

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

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

That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.

— Charles Caleb Colton

Many books owe their success to the good memories of their authors and the bad memories of their readers.

— Charles Caleb Colton

It may be observed of good writing, as of good blood, that it is much easier to say what it is composed…

— Charles Caleb Colton

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

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