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 COLTONDiscretion has been termed the better part of valour, and it is more certain, that diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
More Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
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Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
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.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Some persons will tell you, with an air of the miraculous, that they recovered although they were given over; whereas they might with more reason have said, they recovered because they were given over.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
As that gallant can best affect a pretended passion for one woman who has no true love for another, so he that has no real esteem for any of the virtues can best assume the appearance of them all.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
It is astonishing how much more people are interested in lengthening life than improving it.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
A house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Temperate men drink the most, because they drink the longest.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
An Irish man fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order of precedence, but will do either to accommodate his customers.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
We often pretend to fear what we really despise, and more often despise what we really fear.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Honor is unstable and seldom the same; for she feeds upon opinion, and is as fickle as her food.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
As the gout seems privileged to attack the bodies of the wealthy, so ennui seems to exert a similar prerogative over their minds.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Constant 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 COLTON -
Light, whether it be material or moral, is the best reformer.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON