“To judge by the event is an error all commit: for in every instance courage, if crowned with success, is heroism; if clouded by defeat, temerity. When Nelson fought his battle in the Sound, it was the result alone that decided whether he was to kiss a hand at court or a rod at a court-martial.”
Quote by Charles Caleb Colton
“Gross and vulgar minds will always pay a higher respect to wealth than to talent; for wealth, although it be a far less efficient source of power than talent, happens to be far more intelligible.”
Source: Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
“Men of great and shining qualities do not always succeed in life, but the fault lies more often in themselves than in others.”
Source: Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think
“Butler compared the tongues of these eternal talkers to race-horses, which go the faster the less weight they carry.”
Source: Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
“It has been well observed that the tongue discovers the state of the mind no less than that of the body; but in either case, before the philosopher or the physician can judge, the patient must open his mouth.”
Source: Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
“There are prating coxcombs in the world who would rather talk than listen, although Shakespeare himself were the orator, and human nature the theme!”
Source: Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
“All preceptors should have that kind of genius described by Tacitus, "equal to their business, but not above it;" a patient industry, with competent erudition; a mind depending more on its correctness than its originality, and on its memory rather than on its invention.”
Source: Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
“Is there anything more tedious than the often repeated tales of the old and forgetful?”
“Those who have finished by making all others think with them, have usually been those who began by daring to think with themselves.”
Source: Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
“Time is the most subtle yet the most insatiable of depredators, and by appearing to take nothing is permitted to take all; nor can it be satisfied until it has stolen the world from us, and us from the world. It constantly flies, yet overcomes all things by flight; and although it is the present ally, it will be the future conqueror of death.”
Source: Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think
“Time, the cradle of hope, but the grave of ambition, is the stern corrector of fools, but the salutary counselor of the wise, bringing all they dread to the one, and all they desire to the other.”
Source: Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words: Address--to Those who Think