There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONThere are three kinds of praise, that which we yield, that which we lend, and that which we pay. We yield it to the powerful from fear, we lend it to the weak from interest, and we pay it to the deserving from gratitude.
More Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
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The family is the most basic unit of government. As the first community to which a person is attached and the first authority under which a person learns to live, the family establishes society’s most basic values.
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Human foresight often leaves its proudest possessor only a choice of evils.
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Let those who would affect singularity with success first determine to be very virtuous, and they will be sure to be very singular.
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It is not so difficult a task to plant new truths, as to root out old errors; for there is this paradox in men, they run after that which is new, but are prejudiced in favor of that which is old.
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Theories are private property, but truth is common stock.
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He that is gone so far as to cut the claws of the lion, will not feel himself quite secure, until he has also drawn his teeth.
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Grant graciously what you cannot refuse safely and conciliate those you cannot conquer.
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To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it: the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary.
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Pedantry prides herself on being wrong by rules; while common sense is contented to be right without them.
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It is not every man that can afford to wear a shabby coat.
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Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past, even while we attempt to define it.
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Taking things not as they ought to be, but as they are, I fear it must be allowed that Macchiavelli will always have more disciples than Jesus.
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Self-denial is often the sacrifice of one sort of self-love for another.
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He that dies a martyr proves that he was not a knave, but by no means that he was not a fool.
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It is better to meet danger than to wait for it.
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There are male as well as female gossips.
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Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.
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Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
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There are two way of establishing a reputation, one to be praised by honest people and the other to be accused by rogues. It is best, however, to secure the first one, because it will always be accompanied by the latter.
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If you are under obligations to many, it is prudent to postpone the recompensing of one, until it be in your power to remunerate all; otherwise you will make more enemies by what you give, than by what you withhold.
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Honor is unstable and seldom the same; for she feeds upon opinion, and is as fickle as her food.
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It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck.
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The good opinion of our fellow men is the strongest, though not the purest motive to virtue.
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The victim to too severe a law is considered as a martyr rather than a criminal.
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Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.
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He that can enjoy the intimacy of the great, and on no occasion disgust them by familiarity, or disgrace himself by servility, proves that he is as perfect a gentleman by nature as his companions are by rank.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON