--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is not a little generalship and…" description: "\"There is not a little generalship and stratagem required in the managing and marshalling of our pleasures, so that each shall not mutually encroach to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/charles-caleb-colton-270_destruction_there-is-not-a-little-generalship-and-st_1700878.png" --- # There is not a little generalship and stratagem required… ![“There is not a little generalship and stratagem required in the managing and marshalling of our pleasures, so that each shall not mutually encroach to the destruction of all. For pleasures are very voracious, too apt to worry one another, and each, like Aaron's serpent, is prone to swallow up the…” quote by Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/charles-caleb-colton-270_destruction_there-is-not-a-little-generalship-and-st_1700878.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/charles-caleb-colton-270_destruction_there-is-not-a-little-generalship-and-st_1700878.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/844/charles-caleb-colton-270_destruction_there-is-not-a-little-generalship-and-st_1700878.png) > “There is not a little generalship and stratagem required in the managing and marshalling of our pleasures, so that each shall not mutually encroach to the destruction of all. For pleasures are very voracious, too apt to worry one another, and each, like Aaron's serpent, is prone to swallow up the rest. Thus drinking will soon destroy the power, gaming the means, and sensuality the taste, for other pleasures less seductive, but far more salubrious, and permanent as they are pure.” [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Pleasures compete and can ruin each other if not managed, leading to self‑destruction; moderation is needed. **In simple terms:** Pleasures can destroy each other without balance. Key Takeaway Balance your pleasures to avoid ruin. Themes moderation self‑control pleasure balance Mood reflective cautionary Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - personal finance - health - relationships - career planning Key Concepts self‑destructive tendencies overindulgence resource allocation Questions to Reflect On - Which pleasure most threatens your stability? - How can you set limits without feeling deprived? A Different Perspective Neglecting moderation can cause loss of long‑term well‑being. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Destruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) [Drinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking/) [Gaming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gaming/) [Management](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/management/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Pleasures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasures/) [Seductive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seductive/) [Sensuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensuality/) [Serpent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serpent/) [Stratagem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stratagem/) [Worry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worry/) ## Related quotes > [Whichever way we look the prospect is disagreeable. Behind, we have left pleasures we shall never enjoy, and therefore regret; and before, we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/whichever-way-we-look-the-prospect-is-disagreeable-behind-we-have/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [“Fates, we will know your pleasures: That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time And drawing days out, that men stand upon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/fates-we-will-know-your-pleasures-that-we-shall-die-we-know-tis-but/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Some frauds succeed from the apparent candor, the open confidence, and the full blaze of ingenuousness that is thrown around them. The slightest mystery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/some-frauds-succeed-from-the-apparent-candor-the-open-confidence-and/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [“Attack by Stratagem”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/attack-by-stratagem/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virgil/in-strife-who-inquires-whether-stratagem-or-courage-was-used/) [Virgil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virgil/) > [In warfare, first lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle; if you will not begin with stratagem but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/in-warfare-first-lay-plans-which-will-ensure-victory-and-then-lead/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/the-skillful-leader-subdues-the-enemy-s-troops-without-any-fighting/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [“With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/with-his-forces-intact-he-will-dispute-the-mastery-of-the-empire-and/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [The main propoganda trick of supporters of the allegedly "progressive" policy of government control is to blame capitalism for all that is unsatisfactory in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/the-main-propoganda-trick-of-supporters-of-the-allegedly-progressive/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [When it shall please God to bring thee to man's estate, use great providence and circumspection in choosing thy wife. For from thence will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sidney/when-it-shall-please-god-to-bring-thee-to-man-s-estate-use-great/) [Philip Sidney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sidney/) > [Prayer is not a stratagem for occasional use, a refuge to resort to now and then. It is rather like an established residence for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-joshua-heschel/prayer-is-not-a-stratagem-for-occasional-use-a-refuge-to-resort-to/) [Abraham Joshua Heschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-joshua-heschel/) > [“One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-pinter/one-way-of-looking-at-speech-is-to-say-that-it-is-a-constant/) [Harold Pinter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-pinter/) > [Among the numerous stratagems by which pride endeavors to recommend folly to regard, there is scarcely one that meets with less success than affectation,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/among-the-numerous-stratagems-by-which-pride-endeavors-to-recommend/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [There were various aspects of Sun Tzu's approach that appealed to Ho Chi Minh: a) to learn to understand both the enemy and yourself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-duiker/there-were-various-aspects-of-sun-tzu-s-approach-that-appealed-to-ho/) [William J. Duiker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-duiker/) > [Stratagem is the right hand of cunning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-william-curtis/stratagem-is-the-right-hand-of-cunning/) [George William Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-william-curtis/) ## More by Charles Caleb Colton > [Villainy that is vigilant will be an overmatch for virtue, if she slumber at her post.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/villainy-that-is-vigilant-will-be-an-overmatch-for-virtue-if-she/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [A beautiful woman, if poor, should use double circumspection; for her beauty will tempt others, her poverty herself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/a-beautiful-woman-if-poor-should-use-double-circumspection-for-her/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Were the life of man prolonged, he would become such a proficient in villainy, that it would become necessary again to drown or to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/were-the-life-of-man-prolonged-he-would-become-such-a-proficient-in/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/to-dare-to-live-alone-is-the-rarest-courage-since-there-are-many-who/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [It is doubtful whether mankind are most indebted to those who like Bacon and Butler dig the gold from the mine of literature, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/it-is-doubtful-whether-mankind-are-most-indebted-to-those-who-like/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a fatal but common error. 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There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-arago/a-time-will-come-when-the-science-of-destruction-shall-bend-before/) [Francois Arago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-arago/) > [Perhaps the greatest and least visible form of impoverishment caused by the Corporate State is the destruction of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/perhaps-the-greatest-and-least-visible-form-of-impoverishment-caused/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) > [Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/somewhere-somebody-must-have-some-sense-men-must-see-that-force/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to building up of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/death-is-but-an-aspect-of-life-and-the-destruction-of-one-material/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Hundreds of millions of human beings on our planet increasingly suffer from unemployment, poverty, hunger, and the destruction of their families.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-kung/hundreds-of-millions-of-human-beings-on-our-planet-increasingly/) [Hans Kung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-kung/) > [Away with you, water, destruction of wine!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catullus/away-with-you-water-destruction-of-wine/) [Catullus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catullus/) > [Some voluntary castaways there will always be, whom no fostering kindness and no parental care can preserve from self-destruction; but if any are lost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/some-voluntary-castaways-there-will-always-be-whom-no-fostering/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [ No visiting angel, or explorer from another planet, could have guessed that this bland orb \[Earth\] teemed with vermin, with world-mastering, self-torturing, incipiently angelic… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olaf-stapledon/no-visiting-angel-or-explorer-from-another-planet-could-have-guessed/) [Olaf Stapledon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olaf-stapledon/) > [As far as I know, the question of whether and how it could be strategically or morally justified was never the subject of open…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-far-as-i-know-the-question-of-whether-and-how-it-could-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Is there some lesson on how to be friends? 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