We know the effects of many things, but the cause of few; experience, therefore, is a surer guide than imagination, and inquiry than conjecture.
Charles Caleb ColtonThe 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 ColtonTime ... advances like the slowest tide, but retreats like the swiftest torrent.
Charles Caleb ColtonAll poets pretend to write for immortality, but the whole tribe have no objection to present pay, and present praise. Lord Burleigh is not the only statesman who has thought one hundred pounds too much for a song, though sung by Spenser; although Oliver Goldsmith is the only poet who ever considered himself to have been overpaid.
Charles Caleb Colton