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Where we cannot invent, we may at least improve we may give somewhat of novelty to that which was old, condensation to that which was diffuse, perspicuity to that which was obscure, and currency to that which was recondite.
Charles Caleb Colton
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Charles Caleb Colton
Died: 1832
Died: January 1
Priest
Writer
Charles Colton
Cannot
Novelty
Give
Invent
May
Somewhat
Giving
Obscure
Currency
Improve
Recondite
Improvement
Condensation
Least
Diffuse
More quotes by Charles Caleb Colton
Constant success shows us but one side of the world adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.
Charles Caleb Colton
In all places, and in all times, those religionists who have believed too much have been more inclined to violence and persecution than those who have believed too little.
Charles Caleb Colton
We devote the activity of our youth to revelry and the decrepitude of our old age to repentance: and we finish the farce by bequeathing our dead bodies to the chancel, which when living, we interdicted from the church.
Charles Caleb Colton
Wit may do very well for a mistress, but [I] should prefer reason for a wife.
Charles Caleb Colton
There is nothing more imprudent than excessive prudence.
Charles Caleb Colton
Women generally consider consequences in love, seldom in resentment.
Charles Caleb Colton
In cases of doubtful morality, it is usual to say is there any harm in doing this? This question may sometimes be best answered by asking ourselves another is there any harm in letting it alone?
Charles Caleb Colton
Attempts at reform, when they fail, strengthen despotism, as he that struggles tightens those cords he does not succeed in breaking.
Charles Caleb Colton
Envy, if surrounded on all sides by the brightness of another's prosperity, like the scorpion confined within a circle of fire, will sting itself to death.
Charles Caleb Colton
There are circumstances of peculiar difficulty and danger, where a mediocrity of talent is the most fatal quantum that a man can possibly possess. Had Charles the First and Louis the Sixteenth been more wise or more weak, more firm or more yielding, in either case they had both of them saved their heads.
Charles Caleb Colton
Neither can we admit that definition of genius that some would propose--a power to accomplish all that we undertake for we might multiply examples to prove that this definition of genius contains more than the thing defined. Cicero failed in poetry, Pope in painting, Addison in oratory yet it would be harsh to deny genius to these men.
Charles Caleb Colton
Men's arguments often prove nothing but their wishes.
Charles Caleb Colton
If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself all that runs over will be yours.
Charles Caleb Colton
Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end.
Charles Caleb Colton
Doubt is the vestibule of faith.
Charles Caleb Colton
It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge.
Charles Caleb Colton
We submit to the society of those that can inform us, but we seek the society of those whom we can inform. And men of genius ought not to be chagrined if they see themselves neglected. For when we communicate knowledge, we are raised in our own estimation but when we receive it, we are lowered.
Charles Caleb Colton
Precisely in proportion to our own intellectual weakness will be our credulity as to those mysterious powers assumed by others.
Charles Caleb Colton
Opinions, like showers, are generated in high places, but they invariably descend into lower ones, and ultimately flow down to the people as rain unto the sea.
Charles Caleb Colton
Sloth, if it has prevented many crimes, has also smothered many virtues.
Charles Caleb Colton
