--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those who have resources within…" description: "\"Those who have resources within themselves, who can dare to live alone, want friends the least, but, at the same time, best know how to prize them the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/charles-caleb-colton-270_character_those-who-have-resources-within-themselv_1890285.png" --- # Those who have resources within themselves, who can dare… ![“Those who have resources within themselves, who can dare to live alone, want friends the least, but, at the same time, best know how to prize them the most. But no company is far preferable to bad, because we are more apt to catch the vices of others than their virtues, as disease is far more…” quote by Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/charles-caleb-colton-270_character_those-who-have-resources-within-themselv_1890285.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/charles-caleb-colton-270_character_those-who-have-resources-within-themselv_1890285.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/charles-caleb-colton-270_character_those-who-have-resources-within-themselv_1890285.png) > “Those who have resources within themselves, who can dare to live alone, want friends the least, but, at the same time, best know how to prize them the most. But no company is far preferable to bad, because we are more apt to catch the vices of others than their virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.” [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. Self-reliance is valuable, yet companionship is essential; bad company spreads harmful habits more easily than good company spreads virtues. **In simple terms:** Self-reliance and good company matter; bad company spreads vice. Key Takeaway Seek healthy relationships, avoid toxic ones. Themes self-reliance friendship influence Mood reflective cautious Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - personal growth - team building - leadership - social circles Key Concepts virtue vice contagion Questions to Reflect On - What qualities define a healthy friendship? - How can you protect yourself from negative influences? A Different Perspective Even good friends can negatively influence you if their habits are poor. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Company](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/company/) [Contagious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contagious/) [Contagious Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contagious-health-2614206/) [Dare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dare/) [Disease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disease/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health/) [Know how](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-how/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Live alone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/live-alone/) [Prize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prize/) [Resources](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resources/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Vices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices/) [Vices Virtues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices-virtues-300903/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Want Friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want-friends/) ## Related quotes > [No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/no-company-is-preferable-to-bad-we-are-more-apt-to-catch-the-vices-of/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [No company is preferable to bad, because we are more apt to catch the vices of others than their virtues, as disease is far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/no-company-is-preferable-to-bad-because-we-are-more-apt-to-catch-the/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [If you want enemies, excel others; if you want friends, let others excel you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/if-you-want-enemies-excel-others-if-you-want-friends-let-others-excel/) [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/) > [Vices and virtues are of a strange nature, for the more we have, the fewer we think we have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/vices-and-virtues-are-of-a-strange-nature-for-the-more-we-have-the/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [If a man has no vices, he is in great danger of making vices about his virtues, and there's a spectacle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thornton-wilder/if-a-man-has-no-vices-he-is-in-great-danger-of-making-vices-about-his/) [Thornton Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thornton-wilder/) > [Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/men-are-more-easily-governed-through-their-vices-than-through-their/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [You who make the laws, the vices and the virtues of the people will be your work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-antoine-de-saint-just/you-who-make-the-laws-the-vices-and-the-virtues-of-the-people-will-be/) [Louis Antoine de Saint-Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-antoine-de-saint-just/) > [Passions are vices or virtues to their highest powers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/passions-are-vices-or-virtues-to-their-highest-powers/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [“Live by old Ethicks and the classical Rules of Honesty. Put no new names or notions upon Authentick Virtues and Vices. Think not that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-thomas-browne/live-by-old-ethicks-and-the-classical-rules-of-honesty-put-no-new/) [Sir Thomas Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-thomas-browne/) > [ \[On Las Vegas:\] ... The City That Never Sleeps. The City That Sins and Smiles and Lives On the Edge. The city where vices… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-kijewski/on-las-vegas-the-city-that-never-sleeps-the-city-that-sins-and-smiles/) [Karen Kijewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-kijewski/) > [No writer besides Shakespeare has created more memorable characters attached to vices and virtues. In even their least sympathetic characters, one senses a kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-rosenblatt/no-writer-besides-shakespeare-has-created-more-memorable-characters/) [Roger Rosenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-rosenblatt/) > [We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/we-are-far-more-liable-to-catch-the-vices-than-the-virtues-of-our/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [Memory's vices are also its virtues, elements of a bridge across time that allows us to link the mind with the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-schacter/memory-s-vices-are-also-its-virtues-elements-of-a-bridge-across-time/) [Daniel Schacter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-schacter/) > [The vices and the virtues are written in a language the world cannot construe; it reads them in a vile translation, and the translators…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/the-vices-and-the-virtues-are-written-in-a-language-the-world-cannot/) [Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/) ## 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. Where one has been saved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/be-very-slow-to-believe-that-you-are-wiser-than-all-others-it-is-a/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/none-are-so-fond-of-secrets-as-those-who-do-not-mean-to-keep-them/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Mental pleasures never cloy; unlike those of the body, they are increased by reputation, approved by reflection, and strengthened by enjoyment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/mental-pleasures-never-cloy-unlike-those-of-the-body-they-are/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Ignorance lies at the bottom of all human knowledge, and the deeper we penetrate, the nearer we arrive unto it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/ignorance-lies-at-the-bottom-of-all-human-knowledge-and-the-deeper-we/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/heroism-self-denial-and-magnanimity-in-all-instances-where-they-do/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/we-ought-not-to-be-over-anxious-to-encourage-innovation-in-cases-of/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/we-owe-almost-all-our-knowledge-not-to-those-who-have-agreed-but-to/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Metaphysicians have been learning their lessons for the last four thousand years, and it is high time that they should now begin to teach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/metaphysicians-have-been-learning-their-lessons-for-the-last-four/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Faith and works are necessary to our spiritual life as Christians, as soul and body are to our natural life as men; for faith…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/faith-and-works-are-necessary-to-our-spiritual-life-as-christians-as/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [When all moves equally (says Pascal), nothing seems to move as in a vessel under sail; and when all run by common consent into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/when-all-moves-equally-says-pascal-nothing-seems-to-move-as-in-a/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) [Explore all 778 Charles Caleb Colton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. 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