black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

Conscience is a thousand witnesses.

Quintilian

Without natural gifts technical rules are useless.
QUINTILIAN

Gift Natural Rule Technical
In a crowd, on a journey, at a banquet even, a line of thought can itself provide its own seclusion.
QUINTILIAN

Crowd Journey Seclusion
A liar ought to have a good memory.
QUINTILIAN

Goodness Lying Memories
It is much easier to try one’s hand at many things than to concentrate one’s powers on one thing.
QUINTILIAN

Easy Hand Oneself Power Try
We should not speak so that it is possible for the audience to understand us, but so that it is impossible for them to misunderstand us.
QUINTILIAN

Impossible Misunderstand Possible Talk Understand
The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery.
QUINTILIAN

Easy Ideas Misery Prosperity Right
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
QUINTILIAN

Cost Expense Laughter Virtue
Let us never adopt the maxim, Rather lose our friend than our jest.
QUINTILIAN

Adopt Friendship Ourselves
Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
QUINTILIAN

Beginning Deliberate Growth
Sayings designed to raise a laugh are generally untrue and never complimentary. Laughter is never far removed from derision.
QUINTILIAN

Complimentary Design Laughter Raise
Those who wish to appear learned to fools, appear as fools to the learned.
QUINTILIAN

Appearance Fools Learning
The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it to acquire something, even when separated from any one.
QUINTILIAN

Kind Natural Oneself Separate Soul
A liar must have a good memory.
QUINTILIAN

Goodness Lying Memories
For comic writers charge Socrates with making the worse appear the better reason.
QUINTILIAN

Appearance Better Comic Reason Worst Writing
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

Better Born Destruction Dumb Man Neighbor Reason
Suffering itself does less afflict the senses than the apprehension of suffering.
QUINTILIAN

Afflict Sense Suffering

Conscience is a thousand witnesses.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

Conscience is a thousand witnesses.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Quintilian Quotes