Nothing is more durable than the dynasty of Doubt; for he reigns in the hearts of all his people, but gives satisfaction to none of them, and yet he is the only despot who can never die, while any of his subjects live.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Liberty is an achievement that requires effort and action from the people rather than something that is given freely.
This quote emphasizes that liberty is not simply handed down to individuals or societies; instead, it is a collective endeavor that requires the active participation and effort of the populace. True freedom and rights come from the individual's and society's struggle to attain them, highlighting the notion that blessings like liberty must be actively pursued and earned before they can be fully appreciated and enjoyed.
Themes
LibertyFreedomEffortSocietySelf-Improvement
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on civil rights, you could quote this to emphasize the need for active participation in the fight for freedoms.
More from Charles Caleb Colton
All quotes βIt is astonishing how much more people are interested in lengthening life than improving it.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
The benevolent have the advantage of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious man is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another; whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the complacency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Our minds are as different as our faces. We are all traveling to one destination: happiness, but few are going by the same road.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Similar quotes
Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good.
Tullian TchividjianRead
Any judgment is past oriented, and existence is always herenow, life is always herenow. All judgments are coming from your past experiences, your education, your religion, your parents - which may be dead, but their judgments are being carried by your mind and they will be given as a heritage to your children. Generation after generation, every disease is being transferred as a heritage. Only a non-judgmental mind has intelligence, because it is spontaneously responding to reality.
RajneeshRead
A man who could not see the end of his"provisional existence" was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life.
Viktor E. FranklRead
Consequently, heretics and schismatics, separated from the unity of this Body, are able to receive the same Sacrament, but with no benefit to themselves; indeed, more to their own harm, in that they are judged the more severely rather than being liberated.
Saint AugustineRead
Events, once happened, lose reality, alter with a glance, a storm, a night. In time, the past never happened. But who could know? Who could know that the past is not as solid as this instant.
Alan LightmanRead
No rock so hard but that a little wave may beat admission in a thousand years.
Alfred Lord TennysonRead