At school and at college, though rarely winning an honor, he
was always admitted by his fellows to possess superior abilities. These
abilities were manifest more in the originality of his ideas, and their
peculiar exemplification in his conduct, than in the sober, every-day
manner of thought and action. His mind was versatile, and seemed
capable of grasping and analyzing any subject. Quick to perceive and
prompt to execute, yielding obedience to no dogma, legal or political,
he followed the convictions of his mind, without regard to precedent or
example. His knowledge of human nature seemed intuitive, and his
capacity of adaptation was without limit. At the period when he
commenced the practice of law, the successful abilities in the
profession were forensic. Every case was tried by a jury, and the law
made juries judges of law and fact. The power to control and direct
these was the prime qualification of a lawyer, and nature had bestowed
this, in an eminent degree, upon Colquitt. There were few more eminent
as advocates, or more successful as practitioners, though his legal
attainments were never of a very high order.
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