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.”

“If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition.”

“A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more."True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.”

“Tyrants have not yet discovered any chains that can fetter the mind.”

“The firmest of friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame.”

“In life we shall find many men that are great, and some that are good, but very few men that are both great and good.”

“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.”

“Contemporaries appreciate the person rather than their merit, posterity will regard the merit rather than the person.”

“When you have nothing to say, say nothing.”

“Bigotry murders religion to frighten fools with her ghost.”

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

“True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.”

“He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads.”

“He who studies books alone will know how things ought to be, and he who studies men will know how they are.”

“Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.”

“To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it; for when we fail, our pride supports us - when we succeed, it betrays us.”

“Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.”

“Our income are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and trip.”

“Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores.”

“The drafts which true genius draws upon posterity, although they may not always be honored so soon as they are due, are sure to be paid with compound interest in the end.”