Charles Caleb Colton
Charles Caleb Colton
Charles Caleb Coltonwas an English cleric, writer and collector, well known for his eccentricities...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
country heart simple
As the grand discordant harmony of the celestial bodies may be explained by the simple principles of gravity and impulse, so also in that more wonderful and complicated microcosm, the heart of man, all the phenomena of morals are perhaps resolvable into one single principle, the pursuit of apparent good; for although customs universally vary, yet man in all climates and countries is essentially the same.
fear fields abundance
The interests of society often render it expedient not to utter the whole truth, the interests of science never: for in this field we have much more to fear from the deficiency of truth than from its abundance.
health men poverty
The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.
coats poverty wealth
If rich, it is easy enough to conceal our wealth; but, if poor, it is not quite so easy to conceal our poverty. We shall find that it is less difficult to hide a thousand guineas, than one hole in our coat.
eye numbers envy
As the rays of the sun, notwithstanding their velocity, injure not the eye, by reason of their minuteness, so the attacks of envy, notwithstanding their number, ought not to wound our virtue by reason of their insignificance.
truth roots errors
It is not so difficult a task as to plant new truths, as to root out old errors
atheism three wealth
The three great apostles of practical atheism, that make converts without persecuting, and retain them without preaching, are wealth, health and power.
envy victory spy
Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exalt herself by a victory; envy spies out blemishes that she may lower another by defeat.
mind toadstools insult
Insults are engendered from vulgar minds, like toadstools from a dunghill.
men wish argument
Men's arguments often prove nothing but their wishes.
men animal done
There are many women who have never intrigued, and many men who have never gamed; but those who have done either but once are very extraordinary animals.
christian hate envy
The hate which we all bear with the most Christian patience is the hate of those who envy us.
distance character order
That politeness which we put on, in order to keep the assuming and the presumptuous at a proper distance will generally succeed. But it sometimes happens that these obtrusive characters are on such excellent terms with themselves that they put down this very politeness to the score of their own great merits and high pretensions, meeting the coldness of our reserve with a ridiculous condescension of familiarity, in order to set us at ease with ourselves.
revenge enemy remember
I will not be revenged, and this I owe to my enemy; but I will remember, and this I owe to myself.