A Quote by Charles Caleb Colton

The praise of the envious is far less creditable than their censure; they praise only that which they can surpass, but that which surpasses them they censure.

Charles Caleb Colton

Quote Topics

Censure Envious Far Less Only Praise Surpass Than Them Which

Quote Author

Charles Caleb Colton
English - Writer
1780 - 1832

It has been shrewdly said, that when, men abuse us we should suspect ourselves, and when they praise us, them. It is a rare instance of virtue to despise which censure which we do not deserve; and still more rare to despise praise which we do.

Charles Caleb Colton

Few are sufficiently wise to prefer censure which is useful to praise which is treacherous.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Most of our censure of others is only oblique praise of self, uttered to show the wisdom and superiority of the speaker. It has all the invidiousness of self-praise, and all the ill-desert of falsehood.

Tryon Edwards

Everything here below beneath the sun is subject to continual change; and perhaps there is nothing which can be called more inconstant than opinion, which turns round in an everlasting circle like the wheel of fortune. He who reaps praise today is overwhelmed with biting censure tomorrow; today we trample under foot the man who tomorrow will be raised far above us.

E. T. A. Hoffmann

It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise.

W. Somerset Maugham

I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.

Thomas Jefferson

The villain's censure is extorted praise.

Alexander Pope

All censure of a man's self is oblique praise.

James Boswell

You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.

Leonardo da Vinci

I shall praise those faces which seem to project out of the picture as though they were sculptured, and I shall censure those faces in which I see no art but that of outline.

Leon Battista Alberti

The silence of a man who loves to praise is a censure sufficiently severe.

Charlotte Lennox

Never be afraid of the world's censure; it's praise is much more to be dreaded.

Charles Spurgeon

Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know.

Alexander Pope

Criticism can never instruct or benefit you. Its chief effect is that of a telegram with dubious news. Praise leaves no glow behind, for it is a writer's habit to remember nothing good of himself. I have usually forgotten those who have admired my work, and seldom anyone who disliked it. Obviously, this is because praise is never enough and censure always too much.

Ben Hecht

It is more or less rude to scorn indiscriminately all kinds of praise; we ought to be proud of that which comes from honest men, who praise sincerely those things in us which are really commendable.