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
All poets pretend to write for immortality, but the whole tribe have no objection to present pay and present praise. — 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 —… — 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
It is curious that some learned dunces, because they can write nonsense in languages that are dead, should despise those that talk… — 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
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
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 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
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
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
Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real difficulty and its apparent ease. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
When I meet with any persons who write obscurely or converse confusedly, I am apt to suspect two things; first, that such… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
We should have a glorious conflagration, if all who cannot put fire into their works would only consent to put their works… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Genius, in one respect, is like gold; numbers of persons are constantly writing about both, who have neither. — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
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 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
There are some who write, talk, and think, so much about vice and virtue, that they have no time to practice either… — 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
Men of strong minds and who think for themselves, should not be discouraged on finding occasionally that some of their best ideas… — Charles Caleb Colton Copy Share Image
All poets pretend to write for immortality, but the whole tribe have no objection to present pay, and present praise. Lord Burleigh… — 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
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
No men deserve the title of infidels so little as those to whom it has been usually applied; let any of those… — 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
