Charles Colton

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

He that thinks himself the happiest man really is so.  He that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.

There are truths some men despise because they have not examined, and which they will not examine because they despise.

Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied.

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

It is astonishing how much more anxious people are to lengthen life than to improve it.

The present time has one advantage over every other - it is our own.

Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it.

War is a game, in which princes seldom win, the people never.

We ask advice, but we mean approbation. (praise)

Our wealth is often a snare to ourselves, and always a temptation to others.

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

For one man who sincerely pities our misfortunes, there are a thousand who sincerely hate our success.

Our incomes are like our shoes, if to small, they will gall and pinch us, but, if too large, they will cause us to stumble, and to trip.

Those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.

What we lend, we shall most probably lose.

It is always safe to learn, even from our enemies; seldom safe to venture to instruct, even our friends.

He who studies books alone will know how things ought to be, and he who studies men will know how they are.

We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.

Knowledge is twofold and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of what is false.

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.

In life we shall find many men that are great, and some that are good, but very few men that are both great and good.

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.

A youth without fire is followed by an old age without experience.

Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.