Quintilian Quotes
Quotations and aphorisms by Quintilian:
Verse satire indeed is entirely our own.
~Quintilian
Link:
He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.
~Quintilian
Link:
The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is moulded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.
~Quintilian
Link:
The perfection of art is to conceal art.
~Quintilian
Link:
That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.
~Quintilian
Link:
Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
~Quintilian
Link:
Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly.
~Quintilian
Link:
The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
~Quintilian
Link:
A laugh, if purchased at the expense of propriety, costs too much.
~Quintilian
Link:
Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.
~Quintilian
Link:
Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will derive no more profit from this work than barren soil from a treatise on agriculture.
~Quintilian
Link:
The gifts of nature are infinite in their variety, and mind differs from mind almost as much as body from body.
~Quintilian
Link:
In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
~Quintilian
Link:
We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.
~Quintilian
Link:
Without natural gifts technical rules are useless.
~Quintilian
Link:
To my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.
~Quintilian
Link:
Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake.
~Quintilian
Link:
To swear, except when necessary, is becoming to an honorable man.
~Quintilian
Link:
For the mind is all the easier to teach before it is set.
~Quintilian
Link:
It is much easier to try one's hand at many things than to concentrate one's powers on one thing.
~Quintilian
Link:
Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune.
~Quintilian
Link:
It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory.
~Quintilian
Link:
The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery.
~Quintilian
Link:
Though ambition itself be a vice, yet it is often times the cause of virtues.
~Quintilian
Link:
Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.
~Quintilian
Link:
For it would have been better that man should have been born dumb, nay, void of all reason, rather than that he should employ the gifts of Providence to the destruction of his neighbor.
~Quintilian
Link:
God, that all-powerful Creator of nature and architect of the world, has impressed man with no character so proper to distinguish him from other animals, as by the faculty of speech.
~Quintilian
Link:
While we are examining into everything we sometimes find truth where we least expected it.
~Quintilian
Link:
While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin, the opportunity is lost.
~Quintilian
Link:
Where evil habits are once settled, they are more easily broken than mended.
~Quintilian
Link:
It is worth while too to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a boy's mind from effort.
~Quintilian
Link:
Though ambition in itself is a vice, yet it is often the parent of virtues.
~Quintilian
Link:
We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.
~Quintilian
Link:
As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.
~Quintilian
Link:
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
~Quintilian
Link:
Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
~Quintilian
Link:
When we cannot hope to win, it is an advantage to yield.
~Quintilian
Link:
When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
~Quintilian
Link:
A liar should have a good memory.
~Quintilian
Link:
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
~Quintilian
Link:
It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.
~Quintilian
Link:
It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.
~Quintilian
Link:
Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be.
~Quintilian
Link:
Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite.
~Quintilian
Link:
Share:
Permalink:
Browse: