Charles Caleb Colton

War kills men, and men deplore the loss; but war also crushes bad principles and tyrants, and so saves societies.

Wealth after all is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more.

Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance.

He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place.

Justice to my readers compels me to admit that I write because I have nothing to do; justice to myself induces me to add that I will cease to write the moment I have nothing to say.

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

If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win.

I'm aiming by the time I'm fifty to stop being an adolescent.

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.

Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.

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

No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.

Many speak the truth when they say that they despise riches, but they mean the riches possessed by others.

Nothing so completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.

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

Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.

To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.

The consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them. Thus the American Revolution, from which little was expected, produced much; but the French Revolution, from which much was expected, produced little.

Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.