Quintilian Quotes
We give to necessity the praise of virtue.
Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly.
Vain hopes are often like the dreams of those who wake.
He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.
Variant: The evil speaker differ from the evil doer only in respect of opportunity.
We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.
Where evil habits are once settled, they are more easily broken than mended.
They condemn what they do not understand.
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.
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.
A liar should have a good memory.
We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us.
It is feeling and force of imagination that makes us eloquent.
When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
Variant:
When we cannot hope to win, it is an advantage to yield.
The gifts of nature are infinite in their variety, and mind differs from mind almost as much as body from body.
By searching into every particular, we sometimes discover truth where we least expected to find it.
Variant: By looking for everything, we sometimesarrive at the truth where we least expected to find it.
In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.
Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be.
The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.
The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery.
It is much easier to try one's hand at many things than to concentrate one's powers on one thing.
