That which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more… — Charles Caleb Colton Acquire 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 Bees Copy Share Image
Power, like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it… — Charles Caleb Colton Authority Copy Share Image
Great men, like comets, are eccentric in their courses, and formed to do extensive good by modes unintelligible to vulgar minds. — Charles Caleb Colton Comets Copy Share Image
My lowest days as a Christian have been more fulfilling and rewarding than all the days of glory in the White House. — Charles Caleb Colton Christian 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 Body Copy Share Image
To admit that there is any such thing as chance, in the common acceptation of the term, would be to attempt to… — Charles Caleb Colton Chance Copy Share Image
Men of great and shining qualities do not always succeed in life, but the fault lies more often in themselves than in… — Charles Caleb Colton Faults Copy Share Image
Antithesis may be the blossom of wit, but it will never arrive at maturity unless sound sense be the trunk and truth… — Charles Caleb Colton Antithesis Copy Share Image
We cannot think too highly of our nature, nor too humbly of ourselves. When we see the martyr to virtue, subject as… — Charles Caleb Colton Admire Copy Share Image
Duke Chartres used to boast that no man could have less real value for character than himself, yet he would gladly give… — Charles Caleb Colton Boast Copy Share Image
The cynic who twitted Aristippus by observing that the philosopher who could dine on herbs might despise the company of a king,… — Charles Caleb Colton Business Copy Share Image
Idleness is the grand Pacific Ocean of life, and in that stagnant abyss the most salutary things produce no good, the most… — Charles Caleb Colton Abyss Copy Share Image
Love may exist without jealousy, although this is rare: but jealousy may exist without love, and this is common; for jealousy can… — Charles Caleb Colton Affection 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 Absurdity Copy Share Image
Wars are to the body politic, what drams are to the individual. There are times when they may prevent a sudden death,… — Charles Caleb Colton Body Copy Share Image
None are so seldom found alone, and are so soon tired of their own company, as those coxcombs who are on the… — Charles Caleb Colton Company Copy Share Image
Religion, like its votaries, while it exists on earth, must have a body as well as a soul. A religion purely spiritual… — Charles Caleb Colton Animal Copy Share Image
In science, reason is the guide; in poetry, taste. The object of the one is truth, which is uniform and indivisible; the… — Charles Caleb Colton Accounts Copy Share Image
If sensuality be our only happiness we ought to envy the brutes, for instinct is a surer, shorter, safer guide to such… — Charles Caleb Colton Brutes Copy Share Image
There is more jealousy between rival wits than rival beauties, for vanity has no sex. But in both cases there must be… — Charles Caleb Colton Cases Copy Share Image
The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a… — Charles Caleb Colton Argument Copy Share Image
The family is the most basic unit of government. As the first community to which a person is attached and the first… — Charles Caleb Colton Authority 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 Cheerfulness 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… — Charles Caleb Colton Advantage Copy Share Image
Revenge is a debt, in the paying of which the greatest knave is honest and sincere, and, so far as he is… — Charles Caleb Colton Able Copy Share Image
An Irish man fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order… — Charles Caleb Colton Accommodate Copy Share Image
That alliance may be said to have a double tie, where the minds are united as well as the body; and the… — Charles Caleb Colton Alliances Copy Share Image
Theory is worth but little, unless it can explain its own phenomena, and it must effect this without contradicting itself; therefore, the… — Charles Caleb Colton Contradicting Copy Share Image
We make a goddess of Fortune ... and place her in the highest heaven. But it is not fortune that is exalted… — Charles Caleb Colton Exalted Copy Share Image
We injure mysteries, which are matters of faith by any attempt at explanation in order to make them matters of reason. — Charles Caleb Colton Explanation Copy Share Image
Vanity finds in self-love so powerful an ally that it storms, as it were, by a coup de main,, the citadel of… — Charles Caleb Colton Allies Copy Share Image
The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented… — Charles Caleb Colton Life Copy Share Image
Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers upon their road; they both appear great at a… — Charles Caleb Colton Alarms Copy Share Image
There is this difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he that thinks… — Charles Caleb Colton Fool Copy Share Image
In great cities men are more callous both to the happiness and the misery of others, than in the country; for they… — Charles Caleb Colton Callous Copy Share Image
A coxcomb begins by determining that his own profession is the first; and he finishes by deciding that he is the first… — Charles Caleb Colton Firsts Copy Share Image
Never join with your friend when he abuses his horse or his wife, unless the one is about to be sold, the… — Charles Caleb Colton Abuse Copy Share Image
The interests of society often render it expedient not to utter the whole truth, the interests of science never: for in this… — Charles Caleb Colton Abundance Copy Share Image
The wisest man may be wiser to-day than he was yesterday, and to-morrow than he is to-day. Total freedom from change would… — Charles Caleb Colton Errors Copy Share Image
