Boethius
Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius, was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, and philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born four years after Odoacer deposed the last Roman Emperor and declared himself King of Italy, and entered public service under Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, who later imprisoned and executed him in 524 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow him. While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPhilosopher
fate destiny feet
He who has calmly reconciled his life to fate, and set proud death beneath his feet, can look fortune in the face, unbending both to good and bad; his countenance unconquered.
men knows
Man is so constituted that he then only excels other things when he knows himself.
avoiding nobility ifs
If there is anything good about nobility it is that it enforces the necessity of avoiding degeneracy.
mean men goal
Good men seek it by the natural means of the virtues; evil men, however, try to achieve the same goal by a variety of concupiscences, and that is surely an unnatural way of seeking the good. Don't you agree?
acceptance fate faces
He who has calmly reconciled his life to fate ... can look fortune in the face.
goodness ends all-things
The good is the end toward which all things tend.
men fortune forsaken
No man can ever be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune.
confidence ignorance men
In other living creatures the ignorance of themselves is nature, but in men it is a vice.
virtue fortune vicissitudes
One's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.
discipline rewards fortune
All fortune is good fortune; for it either rewards, disciplines, amends, or punishes, and so is either useful or just.
happiness wise virtuous
He who is virtuous is wise; and he who is wise is good; and he who is good is happy.
balance unhappy passing-away
Balance out the good things and the bad that have happened in your life and you will have to acknowledge that you are still way ahead. You are unhappy because you have lost those things in which you took pleasure? But you can also take comfort in the likelihood that what is now making you miserable will also pass away.
wisdom answers knows
I scarcely know the meaning of your question; much less can I answer it.
essence games play
Inconsistency is my very essence; it is the game I never cease to play as I turn my wheel in its ever changing circle, filled with joy as I bring the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top