Attempts at reform, when they fail, strengthen despotism, as he that struggles tightens those cords he does not succeed in breaking.
CHARLES CALEB COLTONIt is the briefest yet wisest maxim which tells us to meddle not.
More Charles Caleb Colton Quotes
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We should not be too niggardly in our praise, for men will do more to support a character than to raise one.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
There is this difference between happiness and wisdom; he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Insults are engendered from vulgar minds, like toadstools from a dunghill.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
The Grecian’s maxim would indeed be a sweeping clause in Literature; it would reduce many a giant to a pygmy; many a speech to a sentence; and many a folio to a primer.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
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.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
If merited, no courage can stand against its just indignation.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
It is best, if possible, to deceive no one; for he that begins by deceiving others, will end by deceiving himself.
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 to those who, like Paley, purify it, stamp it, fix its real value, and give it currency and utility.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
To cure us of our immoderate love of gain, we should seriously consider how many goods there are that money will not purchase, and these the best; and how many evils there are that money will not remedy, and these the worst.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON -
The rich are more envied by those who have a little, than by those who have nothing.
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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.
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Honor is the most capricious in her rewards. She feeds us with air, and often pulls down our house, to build our monument.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON