Marcus Fabius Quintilian Quotes
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue. A laugh, if purchased at the expense of propriety, costs too much. Everything that has a beginning comes to an end. Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune. 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. Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire. 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. He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity. In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept. It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory. It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity. Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be. Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune. Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite. That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes. The gifts of nature are infinite in their variety, and mind differs from mind almost as much as body from body. The perfection of art is to conceal art. The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression. The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery. Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
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