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Charles Caleb Colton

Charles Caleb Colton Quotes

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Famous Charles Caleb Colton Quotes

“There is no quality of the mind, or of the body, that so instantaneously and irresistibly captivates, as wit. An elegant writer has observed that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife. He that deserts the latter, and gives himself up entirely to the guidance of the former, will certainly fall into many pitfalls and quagmires, like him who walks by flashes of lightning, rather than the steady beams of the sun.”

GivingShouldMindWellsMayReasonBodyFallWalksQualitySunWifeWitFormerDesertGuidanceLatterSteadyFlashLightningElegantMistressBeamPitfallsQuagmire
Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
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“The pride of ancestry is a superstructure of the most imposing height, but resting on the most flimsy foundation. It is ridiculous enough to observe the hauteur with which the old nobility look down on the new. The reason of this puzzled me a little, until I began to reflect that most titles are respectable only because they are old; if new, they would be despised, because all those who now admire the grandeur of the stream would see nothing but the impurity of the source.”

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Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
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“We are more inclined to hate one another for points on which we differ, than to love one another for points on which we agree. The reason perhaps is this: when we find others that agree with us, we seldom trouble ourselves to confirm that agreement; but when we chance on those who differ from us, we are zealous both to convince and to convert them. Our pride is hurt by the failure, and disappointed pride engenders hatred.”

ReasonHateHurtChanceTroublePrideHatredAgreeConvinceAgreementDisappointedControversyLove One AnotherZealous
Book:Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
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“We injure mysteries, which are matters of faith, by any attempt at explanation in order to make them matters of reason. Could they be explained, they would cease to be mysteries; and it has been well said that a thing is not necessarily against reason because it happens to be above it.”

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Book:Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
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“Some authors write nonsense in a clear style, and others sense in an obscure one; some can reason without being able to persuade, others can persuade without being able to reason; some dive so deep that they descend into darkness, and others soar so high that they give us no light; and some, in a vain attempt to be cutting and dry, give us only that which is cut and dried. We should labor, therefore, to treat with ease of things that are difficult; with familiarity, of things that are novel; and with perspicuity, of things that are profound.”

GivingShouldWritingReasonLightAbleDifficultDarknessNovelClearCuttingStyleLaborTreatsProfoundVainEaseDryNonsenseObscureSoarFamiliarity
Book:Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
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“The reason why great men meet with so little pity or attachment in adversity, would seem to be this: the friends of a great man were made by his fortune, his enemies by himself, and revenge is a much more punctual paymaster than gratitude.”

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Book:Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
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“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.”

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Book:Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son on men and manners. To which are added, selections from Colton's 'Lacon'.
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