Quote#Wisdom
Great minds had rather deserve contemporaneous applause, without…
Quote byCharles Caleb Colton · 1777–1832
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Volume 1, Vol. I; VI.
English (original)
Great minds had rather deserve contemporaneous applause, without obtaining it, than obtain, without deserving it; if it follow them, it is well, but they will not deviate to follow it. With inferior minds the reverse is observable.
— Charles Caleb Colton
More from Charles Caleb Colton
We should have a glorious conflagration, if all who cannot put fire into their works would only consent to put their works into the fire.
That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he published, if he does not command success, has at least deserved it.
Discretion has been termed the better part of valour, and it is more certain, that diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
If we can advance any propositions that are both true and new, these are indisputably our own, by right of discovery; and if we can repeat what is old more briefly and brightly than others, this also becomes our own, by right of conquest.
Style is indeed the valet of genius, and an able one too; but as the true gentleman will appear, even in rags, so true genius will shine, even through the coarsest style.
A volume, therefore, that contains more words than ideas, like a tree that has more foliage than fruit, may suit those to resort to, who want not to feast, but to dream and to slumber.