Colton Quotes

Honesty is not only the deepest policy, but the highest wisdom; since, however difficult it may be for integrity to get on, it is a thousand times more difficult for knavery to get off; and no error is more fatal than that of those who think that Virtue has no other reward because they have heard that she is her own. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

He was hearing Stevie Nicks singing in his head when Colt fell asleep in the bed, in the house, with the woman at his side that life meant him to have. After waiting for forty-four years, for the fifth night in a row, Alexander Colton was finally living the life he was meant to be living. ~ Kristen Ashley

If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exalt herself by a victory; envy spies out blemishes that she may lower another by defeat. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

It wasn't supposed to. It was just supposed to stop you from hurting yourself." "It helps - " "No it doesn't. It just pushes it away temporarily. Just like the booze." "But I need - " "You need to let yourself feel. Feel it, own it. Then move on." "You make it sound so easy." Bitterness drips from each syllable. "It's not. It's the fucking hardest thing a person can do." I smooth a damp strand out of her face and away from my mouth. "It's the hardest fucking thing. It's why we drink and do drugs and fight. It's why I play music and build engines. ~ Jasinda Wilder

What would you do if you knew for sure that no one would ever find out? ~ Charles Caleb Colton

When all moves equally (says Pascal), nothing seems to move as in a vessel under sail; and when all run by common consent into vice, none appear to do so. He that stops first, views as from a fixed point the horrible extravagance that transports the rest. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

You're pregnant?" I can't even believe the words I'm saying as I pull her toward me, and onto my lap. ~ K. Bromberg

Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Reply to wit with gravity, and to gravity with wit. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

It is good to act as if. It is even better to grow to the point where it is no longer an act. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The greatest miracle that the Almighty could perform would be to make a bad man happy, even in heaven; he must unparadise that blessed place to accomplish it. In its primary signification, all vice
that is, all excess
brings its own punishment even here. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Colton picked up a glass of cider and tok a sip. "We're not a couple, Olivia and I, so if you want to flirt with me, it's all right." He was teasing, but there was also truth mixed into this game. Perhaps more than he knew, and I felt as though everything inside of me was stretched tight.
I didn't want to face him, so I kept my gaze centered out on the dance floor. "I see. Should I bat my eyelashes or were you thinking along the lines of pointless small talk?"
"Actually, I like the way you keep looking at me."
"I don't keep looking at you."
"Yes, you do."
I didn't look at him, just to prove the point. ~ Janette Rallison

Success seems to be that which forms the distinction between confidence and conceit. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Alas! how has the social spirit of Christianity been perverted by fools at one time, and by knaves and bigots at another; by the self-tormentors of the cell, and the all-tormentors of the conclave! ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

That extremes beget extremes is an apothegm built on the most profound observation of the human mind. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

There are both dull correctness and piquant carelessness; it is needless to say which will command the most readers and have the most influence. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

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

No men deserve the title of infidels so little as those to whom it has been usually applied; let any of those who renounce Christianity, write fairly down in a book all the absurdities that they believe instead of it, and they will find that it requires more faith to reject Christianity than to embrace it. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

There are only two things in which the false professors of all religions have agreed
to persecute all other sects and to plunder their own. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Temperate men drink the most, because they drink the longest. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Custom is the law of one description of fools, and fashion of another; but the two parties often clash
for precedent is the legislator of the first, and novelty of the last. Custom, therefore, looks to things that are past, and fashion to things that are present. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The only kind office performed for us by our friends of which we never complain is our funeral; and the only thing which we most want, happens to be the only thing we never purchase
our coffin. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Grant graciously what you cannot refuse safely and conciliate those you cannot conquer. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Why drink to cover it up because hurting is feeling and feeling is living, and isn't it good to be alive?'" Colton ~ K. Bromberg

Life often presents us with a choice of evils, rather than of goods. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

You done a number on him, Colt. He needs a doctor, or he ain't gonna make it." "He tried to rape her, Split. Then he punched her." "To be fair," Nell puts in, "he only punched me after I put a knife to his throat." Split coughs a laugh. "You what? Girl, you crazy. ~ Jasinda Wilder

Instead of exhibiting talent in the hope that the world would forgive their eccentricities, they have exhibited only their eccentricities, in the hope that the world would give them credit for talent. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Criticism discloses that which it would fain conceal, but conceals that which it professes to disclose; it is therefore, read by the discerning, not to discover the merits of an author, but the motives of his critic. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Philosophy is a goddess, whose head indeed is in heaven, but whose feet are upon earth; she attempts more than she accomplishes, and promises more than she performs. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Novels may teach us as wholesome a moral as the pulpit. There are "sermons in stones," in healthy books, and "good in everything. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Time ... advances like the slowest tide, but retreats like the swiftest torrent. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The blindness of bigotry, the madness of ambition, and the miscalculations of diplomacy seek their victims principally amongst the innocent and the unoffending. The cottage is sure to suffer for every error of the court, the cabinet, or the camp. When error sits in the seat of power and of authority, and is generated in high places, it may be compared to that torrent which originates indeed in the mountain, but commits its devastation in the vale. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Mystery is not profoundness. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

He turns to go, but not before I watch the transition on his face from the Colton Donavan I know, to the public persona. Aloof and untouchable. Sexy and untamable. ~ K. Bromberg

Well, I'm not scared of death because I know where I'm going. And the funny thing is that the worst thing Satan can throw at you is death. So if I get death, I get heaven. ~ Colton Burpo

Man, if he compare himself with all that he can see, is at the zenith of power; but if he compare himself with all that he can conceive, he is at the nadir of weakness. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

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. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Most females will forgive a liberty rather than a slight ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Very great personages are not likely to form very just estimates either of others or of themselves; their knowledge of themselves is obscured by the flattery of others; their knowledge of others is equally clouded by circumstances peculiar to themselves. For in the presence of the great, the modest are sure to suffer from too much diffidence, and the confident from too much display. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

We make a goddess of Fortune ... and place her in the highest heaven. But it is not fortune that is exalted and powerful, but we ourselves that are abject and weak. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

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. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The press is the foe of rhetoric, but the friend of reason. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

There is no cruelty so inexorable and unrelenting as that which proceeds from a bigoted and presumptuous supposition of doing service to God. The victim of the fanatical persecutor will find that the stronger the motives he can urge for mercy are, the weaker will be his chance for obtaining it, for the merit of his destruction will be supposed to rise in value in proportion as it is effected at the expense of every feeling both of justice and of humanity. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

He that sympathizes in all the happiness of others, perhaps himself enjoys the safest happiness. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

A wise minister would rather preserve peace than gain a victory, because he knows that even the most successful war leaves nations generally more poor, always more profligate, than it found them. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

There are many who say more than the truth on some occasions, and balance the account with their consciences by saying less than the truth on others. But the fact is that they are in both instances as fraudulant as he would be that exacted more than his due from his debtors, and paid less than their due to his creditors. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

No one knows where he who invented the plow was born, nor where he died; yet he has done more for humanity than the whole race of heroes who have drenched the earth with blood and whose deeds have been handed down with a precision proportionate only to the mischief they wrought. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

It is in the middle classes of society that all the finest feeling, and the most amiable propensities of our nature do principally nourish and abound. For the good opinion of our fellow-men is the strongest though not the purest motive to virtue. The privations of poverty render us too cold and callous, and the privileges of property too arrogant and confidential, to feel; the first places us beneath the influence of opinion
the second, above it. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Mrs. Latham patted Hayley's knee with a frail, liver-spotted hand. 'I'm sure you do, dear. And I'm afraid those kinds of losses don't get any easier as we grow older." Mrs. Latham turned, including Colton in her smile as she changed the subject. 'I'm so thrilled to finally be able to restore Victorian Oaks. It's been my dream for some time." "I understand you grew up there," Colt said. "Yes, indeed. I was a Palmer before I married Mr. Latham. It pains me to see the old house going to ruin. ~ Carol Rose

The truly great consider, first, how they may gain the approbation of God, and, secondly, that of their own conscience. Having done this, they would then willingly conciliate the good opinion of their fellow-men. But the truly little reverse the thing. The primary object with them is to secure the applause of their fellow-men; and having effected this, the approbation of God and their own conscience may follow on as they can. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

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. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

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

Love may exist without jealousy, although this is rare: but jealousy may exist without love, and this is common; for jealousy can feed on that which is bitter no less than on that which is sweet, and is sustained by pride as often as by affection. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

We should not be too niggardly in our praise, for men will do more to support a character than to raise one. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

When the frustration of my helplessness seemed greatest, I discovered God's grace was more than sufficient. And after my imprisonment, I could look back and see how God used my powerlessness for His purpose. What He has chosen for my most significant witness was not my triumphs or victories, but my defeat. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Mental pleasures never cloy; unlike those of the body, they are increased by reputation, approved by reflection, and strengthened by enjoyment. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Any one can give advice, such as it is, but only a wise man knows how to profit by it. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Genius, in one respect, is like gold; numbers of persons are constantly writing about both, who have neither. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

So long as lust, whether of the world or flesh, smells sweet in our nostrils, so long we are loathsome to God. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Vanity finds in self-love so powerful an ally that it storms, as it were, by a coup de main,, the citadel of our heads, where, having blinded the two watchmen, it readily descends into the heart. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Gaming is the child of avarice, but the parent of prodigality. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

I race you, Ryles," he says in a voice that's implacable and unwavering amidst the swirling chaos. ~ K. Bromberg

Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

A beautiful woman, if poor, should use double circumspection; for her beauty will tempt others, her poverty herself. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

An empty house had a particular sound, Colton had come to realize: a sigh made without lungs, the silent crawl of time passing with no one to measure it in beats of words and breaths. No one to speak to or listen to or watch. A loneliness that was cutting. ~ Tara Sim

Pure truth, like pure gold, has been found unfit for circulation because men have discovered that it is far more convenient to adulterate the truth than to refine themselves. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Courage is like the diamond,
very brilliant; not changed by fire, capable of high polish, but except for the purpose of cutting hard bodies useless. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The upright, if he suffer calumny to move him, fears the tongue of man more than the eye of God. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

We are sure to be losers when we quarrel with ourselves; it is civil war. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Natural good is' so intimately connected with moral good, and natural evil with moral evil, that I am as certain as if I heard a voice from heaven proclaim it, that God is on the side of virtue. He has learnt much, and has not lived in vain, who has practically discovered that most strict and necessary connection, that does and will ever exist between vice and misery, and virtue and happiness. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

In all societies, it is advisable to associate if possible with the highest; not that the highest are always the best, but because, if disgusted there, we can descend at any time; but if we begin with the lowest, to ascend is impossible. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Envy, if surrounded on all sides by the brightness of another's prosperity, like the scorpion confined within a circle of fire, will sting itself to death. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

He that places himself neither higher nor lower than he ought to do exercises the truest humility. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

We are ruined, not by what we really want, but by what we think we do; therefore never go abroad in search of your wants; if they be real wants, they will come home in search of you; for he that buys what he does not want, will soon want what he cannot buy. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

His crying stops instantly the minute Ry cradles him in her arms. He knows. How simple is that? And if I thought I was sucker-punched before, the sight of her holding our son is the knockout punch. I'm looking down at his little face and hers next to each other, and shit I never expected to feel in my life surges through me, wraps around my heart, and fills it in a way I never thought was possible ~ K. Bromberg

It is more easy to forgive the weak who have injured us than the powerful whom we have injured. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

A friend of ours, the wife of a pastor at a church in Colorado, had once told me about something her daughter, Hannah, said when she was three years old. After the morning service was over one Sunday, Hannah tugged on her mom's skirt and asked. "Mommy, why do some people in church have lights over their heads and some don't?" At the time, I remember thinking two things: First, I would've knelt down and asked Hannah, "Did I have a light over my head? Please say yes!" I also wondered what Hannah had seen, and whether she had seen it because, like my son, she had a childlike faith. ~ Todd Burpo

Doubt is the vestibule which all must pass before they can enter into the temple of wisdom; therefore, when we are in doubt and puzzle out the truth by our own exertions, we have gained a something that will stay by us, and which will serve us again. But, if to avoid the trouble of the search we avail ourselves of the superior information of a friend, such knowledge will not remain with us; we have not bought but borrowed it. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

In the pursuit of knowledge, follow it wherever it is to be found; like fern, it is the produce of all climates, and like coin, its circulation is not restricted to any particular class. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Because my division watches immortals like your crew. It's in the government's best interest to keep tabs on people who could potentially be assets someday. Which is why I'm here." He turned to Colton again. "I can use my contacts to locate the group holding the Holy Grail, but the American government can't be tied to the recovery effort in any way."

"So what are you sayin'?" Colton held his breath.

"I'm saying who better to steal it back than a band of pirates? ~ Lisa Kessler

Contemporaries appreciate the person rather than their merit, posterity will regard the merit rather than the person. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

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. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

None are so seldom found alone, and are so soon tired of their own company, as those coxcombs who are on the best terms with themselves. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Genius in one grand particular is like life. We know nothing of either but by their effects. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Of all the marvelous works of God, perhaps the one angels view with the most supreme astonishment, is a proud man. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

To judge by the event is an error all commit: for in every instance courage, if crowned with success, is heroism; if clouded by defeat, temerity. When Nelson fought his battle in the Sound, it was the result alone that decided whether he was to kiss a hand at court or a rod at a court-martial. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

The whole family of pride and ignorance are incestuous, and mutually beget each other ~ Charles Caleb Colton

It is curious that some learned dunces, because they can write nonsense in languages that are dead, should despise those that talk sense in languages that are living. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

I choke on my drink. Did I really just call Haddie my voodoo? Oh my fucking God. I'm turning into Colton. ~ K. Bromberg

To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Two things, well considered, would prevent many quarrels: first, to have it well ascertained whether we are not disputing about terms, rather than things; and, secondly, to examine whether that on which we differ is worth contending about. ~ Charles Caleb Colton