Diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONDiffidence is the better part of knowledge.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONThose that are the loudest in their threats are the weakest in their actions.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONWhen you have nothing to say, say nothing.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONConstant success shows us but one side of the world. For as it surrounds us with friends who will tell us only our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom alone we can learn our defects.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONThe present time has one advantage over every other — it is our own.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONExaminations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONSturdy beggars can bear stout denials.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONImmitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONGrant graciously what you cannot refuse safely and conciliate those you cannot conquer.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONAttempts at reform, when they fail, strengthen despotism, as he that struggles tightens those cords he does not succeed in breaking.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONIt 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.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONThere are three modes of bearing the ills of life; by indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONAs no roads are so rough as those that have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONBooks, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us – never cease to instruct – never cloy.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONMystery magnifies danger as the fog the sun.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONIt is good to act as if. It is even better to grow to the point where it is no longer an act.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON