Quintilian
Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianuswas a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilian, although the alternate spellings of Quintillian and Quinctilian are occasionally seen, the latter in older texts...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionEducator
fortune fear-of-the-future
Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune.
father men names
Give bread to a stranger, in the name of the universal brotherhood which binds together all men under the common father of nature.
suffering doe anticipation
Suffering itself does less afflict the senses than the apprehension of suffering.
ambition boys giving
Give me the boy who rouses when he is praised, who profits when he is encouraged and who cries when he is defeated. Such a boy will be fired by ambition; he will be stung by reproach, and animated by preference; never shall I apprehend any bad consequences from idleness in such a boy.
long easier variety
It is easier to do many things than to do one thing continuously for a long time.
philosophy
A religion without mystics is a philosophy.
ambition parent vices
Though ambition in itself is a vice, yet it is often the parent of virtues. [Lat., Licet ipsa vitium sit ambitio, frequenter tamen causa virtutem est.]
neighbor pleasure satiety
Satiety is a neighbor to continued pleasures. [Lat., Continuis voluptatibus vicina satietas.]
too-late pondering late
While we ponder when to begin, it becomes too late to do.
becoming
Nothing can be pleasing which is not also becoming.
sometimes expected examining
While we are examining into everything we sometimes find truth where we least expected it.
laughing too-much cost
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
obscurity incapacity proportion
The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.
memories liars lying
It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory.