Charles Caleb Colton
Charles Caleb Colton
Charles Caleb Coltonwas an English cleric, writer and collector, well known for his eccentricities...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
player games profound
As in the game of billiards, the balls are constantly producing effects from mere chance, which the most skillful player could neither execute nor foresee, but which, when they do happen, serve mainly to teach him how much he has still to learn; so it is in the most profound and complicated game of politics and diplomacy. In both cases, we can only regulate our play by what we have seen, rather than by what we have hoped; and by what we have experienced, rather than by what we have expected.
war winning games
War is a game in which princes seldom win, the people never.
gratitude revenge games
An act by which we make one friend and one enemy is a losing game; because revenge is a much stronger principle than gratitude
born men order twice
Men are born with two eyes, but only one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.
giving literature doe
That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.
flattery form
Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
certainly english-writer stand three time virtue
He that is good, will infallibly become better, and he that is bad, will as certainly become worse; for vice, virtue and time are three things that never stand still.
duplicity english-writer full integrity simple trick
Nothing so completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.
ability apply energies growing mental physical requisite success
The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
difference generally greatest happiest happiness himself thinks
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.
good man trusted unlimited wise
No man is wise enough, or good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.
dull influence authorship
There are both dull correctness and piquant carelessness; it is needless to say which will command the most readers and have the most influence.
winter age lapland
Cheerfulness ought to be the viaticum vitae of their life to the old; age without cheerfulness is a Lapland winter without a sun.
character half tongue
Living authors, therefore, are usually, bad companions. If they have not gained character, they seek to do so by methods often ridiculous, always disgusting; and if they have established a character, they are silent for fear of losing by their tongue what they have acquired by their pen--for many authors converse much more foolishly than Goldsmith, who have never written half so well.