In most quarrels there is a fault on both sides. A quarrel may be compared to a spark, which cannot be produced without a flint, as well as steel. Either of them may hammer on wood forever; no fire will follow. Charles Caleb Colton More Quotes by Charles Caleb Colton More Quotes From Charles Caleb Colton Insults are engendered from vulgar minds, like toadstools from a dunghill. Charles Caleb Colton toadstools insult mind If often happens too, both in courts and in cabinets, that there are two things going on together,--a main plot and an under-plot; and he that understands only one of them will, in all probability, be the dupe of both. A mistress may rule a monarch, but some obscure favorite may rule the mistress. Charles Caleb Colton mistress together two 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. Charles Caleb Colton done animal men Jealousy is sustained as often by pride as by affection. Charles Caleb Colton affection jealousy pride Light, whether it be material or moral, is the best reformer. Charles Caleb Colton moral materials light Literature has her quacks no less than medicine, and they are divided into two classes; those who have erudition without genius, and those who have volubility without depth; we shall get second-hand sense from the one, and original nonsense from the other. Charles Caleb Colton class two hands Logic and metaphysics make use of more tools than all the rest of the sciences put together, and do the least work. Charles Caleb Colton tools use together 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 peculiar wise men There were moments of despondency when Shakespeare thought himself no poet, and Raphael no painter; when the greatest wits have doubted the excellence of their happiest efforts. Charles Caleb Colton melancholy effort excellence He that studies only men will get the body of knowledge without the soul; and he that studies only books, the soul without the body. Charles Caleb Colton soul men book Miss Edgeworth and Mme. de Stael have proved that there is no sex in style; and Mme. la Roche Jacqueline, and the Duchesse d'Angouleme have proved that there is no sex in courage. Charles Caleb Colton style missing sex Perhaps that is nearly the perfection of good writing which is original, but whose truth alone prevents the reader from suspecting that it is so; and which effects that for knowledge which the lens effects for the sunbeam, when it condenses its brightness in order to increase its force. Charles Caleb Colton perfection writing order The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age. Charles Caleb Colton excess waste age The inheritance of a distinguished and noble name is a proud inheritance to him who lives worthily of it. Charles Caleb Colton inheritance noble names A power above all human responsibility ought to be above all human attainment. Charles Caleb Colton attainment humans responsibility There are many that despise half the world; but if there be any that despise the whole of it, it is because the other half despises them. Charles Caleb Colton hate half world Most men know what they hate, few what they love. Charles Caleb Colton love-hate hate men He that can please nobody is not so much to be pitied as he that nobody can please. Charles Caleb Colton please Let us not be too prodigal when we are young, nor too parsimonious when we are old. Otherwise we shall fall into the common error of those, who, when they had the power to enjoy, had not the prudence to acquire; and when they had the prudence to acquire, had no longer the power to enjoy. Charles Caleb Colton errors common fall Short as life is, some find it long enough to outlive their characters, their constitutions and their estates. Charles Caleb Colton aging character long
