Work record

Lacon: or, Many Things in a Few Words

Charles Caleb Colton

Also known as: Lacon · Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words · Imitation is the sincerest of flattery

1820–1822 · 19th Century · Essays · English

Abstract

Written: 1820 (vol. 1); 1822 (vol. 2)
Setting: Regency England; London
Author: Charles Caleb Colton
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Aphorisms
Form: Numbered short reflections in two volumes
Recommended: Grades 9–12 (Short numbered aphorisms in Regency English; easy to sample.)

Background. A Cambridge-educated vicar with a weakness for gambling published a volume of brief, numbered reflections in 1820 and added a second two years later. He named it after the Spartans of Laconia, proverbial for packing meaning into few words.

Content. Each entry, marked by a Roman numeral, is a sentence or short paragraph on vanity, envy, friendship, wealth, religious hypocrisy, politics, authors or critics. Many hinge on an unexpected reversal, in the manner of the French moralists. Taken together they read less like a treatise than like a notebook of a sharp, often cynical observer of fashionable society.

Famous line. Entry CCXVII of the first volume is one sentence long: imitation, it says, is the sincerest of flattery. Checked here against nineteenth-century printings, it carries no further clause; the popular extended version about mediocrity paying tribute to greatness is a modern addition, and the common credit to Oscar Wilde is mistaken.

Legacy. Reprinted again and again in Britain and America, the book fed generations of quotation dictionaries, though its author died in exile in France in 1832 and is now largely forgotten. This library presents an abstract with the one celebrated saying rather than the complete text.

Key figures

Charles Caleb Colton: Clergyman, gambler and author of the aphorisms
La Rochefoucauld: Seventeenth-century French maxim writer whose manner Colton follows

Summary

Lacon: or, Many Things in a Few Words; Addressed to Those Who Think is a collection of short reflections by the English clergyman Charles Caleb Colton. The first volume appeared in London in 1820 and a second in 1822. The title refers to the Laconians, or Spartans, who were famous in ancient Greece for saying much in very few words, which is also the source of the English word laconic. The book has no plot or continuous argument. It consists of hundreds of numbered paragraphs, marked with Roman numerals, ranging from a single sentence to a page or more. Colton writes about human nature and society: ambition, envy, flattery, friendship, money and gambling, religion and hypocrisy, the duties of rulers, the habits of writers and critics, and the uses of time. His manner owes much to the French moralists, especially La Rochefoucauld, and to English essayists such as Bacon. Many entries turn on a neat contrast or a surprising twist, and Colton often aims at vanity and self-deception. Lacon sold widely, went through many editions on both sides of the Atlantic, and was mined for quotations by later anthologies. Its best-known line is aphorism CCXVII in the first volume, which in full reads: 'Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.' The saying is often misattributed to Oscar Wilde, and a longer version that adds a second clause about mediocrity and greatness does not appear in Colton's book; it is a modern elaboration. Colton's own life was unsettled. He gambled heavily and left England to escape his creditors, and he died in France in 1832. The book that made his name survives mostly through a handful of sayings, but browsing it shows a sharp and sometimes cynical observer of the society of his time. This library offers Lacon as an abstract with its one famous saying, checked against a nineteenth-century printing, rather than as a full text.

Plot or Argument

Form
Numbered aphorisms and short reflections, from one sentence to a page, with no continuous argument.
Subjects
Human nature, flattery and envy, friendship, money and gambling, religion, government, literature and criticism.
Aphorism CCXVII
The single sentence 'Imitation is the sincerest of flattery', the book's most quoted line.

Lessons

Saying much in few words
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- Why are short sayings easier to remember than long arguments?
- What is lost when an idea is compressed into one sentence?
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Checking a famous quotation
The line 'Imitation is the sincerest of flattery' is often credited to Oscar Wilde or quoted with an added clause. Going back to an early printing shows what Colton actually wrote and when.
- Why do famous sayings drift to more famous names?
- How can you check whether a quotation is genuine?
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Flattery and sincerity
Colton suggests that copying someone is a more honest compliment than praise, because it shows what we really admire. The idea invites reflection on influence, originality and respect.
- Is imitation always a compliment?
- When does learning from a model become mere copying?
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Context

In Regency England collections of maxims and 'thoughts' were popular reading, following the example of French moralists such as La Rochefoucauld and Pascal.

Composition

Colton published the first volume of Lacon in London in 1820 and a second in 1822, numbering each reflection with Roman numerals. Many editions followed in Britain and America.

Reception

Lacon was widely reprinted and quoted in the nineteenth century. Today it is known mainly for a few sayings, above all aphorism CCXVII on imitation and flattery.

Virtue Ethics Art / Creation Class / Society Language / Storytelling

Comparisons

Pensees
Pascal's fragmentary thoughts on human nature and faith belong to the same tradition of short reflections.
Essays
Bacon's compact essays, full of quotable sentences, were a model for English aphorists.
Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanack
Poor Richard's sayings show the American taste for proverbial wisdom in the same era.
Essays and Aphorisms
Schopenhauer's aphorisms take a darker, more philosophical view of human vanity.

Quotes

Frequently cited

“Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.”

— Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon: or, Many Things in a Few Words, Vol. 1, aphorism CCXVII (Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon: or, Many Things in Few Words, vol. 1, aphorism CCXVII (first published London, 1820). Checked on 4 Nov 2026 against the archive.org scan of the third edition (London, 1820), india.history.resource.17413, where CCXVII reads 'IMITATION is the sincerest of flattery.'; also matches the 1824 New York reprint.).Quote card

The World as Will and Representation, Source
to be sought This is the specific nature of its action i e the nature of its existence its being Of each particular effect of the thing a cause may be certainly indicated from which it follows that it must act just at this time and in this place but no cause can ever be found from which it follows that a thing acts in general and precisely in the way it does If it has no other qualities if it is merely a mote in a sunbeam it yet exhibits this unfathomable something at least as weight and impenetrability But this...
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, lines 95-96
Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest: Hope is God's gift that makes up for our ignorance of the future.
Gorgias, 494b
The life which you are now depicting is not that of a dead man, or of a stone, but of a cormorant Socrates' reply to Callicles' praise of ever-renewed appetite, following the image of the leaky casks.
The Idiot, Part II, Chapter IV
Why, that picture might make some people lose their faith. Myshkin's reaction to the copy of Holbein's dead Christ hanging over a door in Rogozhin's house.
The Valley of Fear, Lesson: Facts that do not fit
Facts that do not fit. Holmes solves Birlstone by noticing what is missing, a dumb-bell and a ring. Absences can be clues.

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

How Colton builds a saying around a contrast or twist.
Which human failings he returns to most often.
The influence of French maxim writers such as La Rochefoucauld.

Key terms and names

Aphorism: A short, pointed statement of a general truth.
Laconic: Using few words, after the famously terse Spartans of Laconia.
Maxim: A short rule or principle of conduct.
Misattribution: Crediting a quotation to the wrong person.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension What does the title Lacon refer to?
Comprehension What exactly does aphorism CCXVII say?
Interpretation Why might imitation be more sincere than spoken praise?
Interpretation Why do you think this saying is so often credited to Oscar Wilde?
Interpretation What makes an aphorism memorable?
Big Question Is originality more valuable than skilful imitation?

Faith Connections

Proverbs 27:6 (Scripture)
'Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful': an older reflection on honest and false compliments.
La Rochefoucauld, Maxims (Great Conversation)
The French moralist whose sayings on vanity and self-love Colton follows.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Short, sharp observations can reveal truths about human nature that longer arguments obscure.

Rhetorical device: paradox. Calling imitation, which seems like a lack of originality, the sincerest form of flattery.

Debate: Resolved: that imitation is a sincere form of respect.

Memory Work

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
Vol. 1, aphorism CCXVII. One of the most quoted sentences in English, here in its original form.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain Colton's aphorism on imitation and argue whether it is true in art, school or friendship.

Comparison with Pensees: Compare Colton's aphorisms with Pascal's thoughts in style and outlook.

Creative Prompts

Essay
Write ten aphorisms of your own in Colton's style about school life, then choose the best one and explain why it works.
Classroom
Track down three famous quotations online and check each against an early printed source, reporting which are accurate.
Essay
Choose one artist, athlete or writer you admire and explain what imitating them has taught you, and where you have had to find your own way.