Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
QUINTILIANIt seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.
More Quintilian Quotes
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Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.
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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.
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Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly.
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In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
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For the mind is all the easier to teach before it is set.
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Virtue, though she gets her beginning from nature, yet receives her finishing touches from learning.
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Ambition is a vice, but it may be the father of virtue.
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Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
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A mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.
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Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.
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To my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.
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The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
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There is no one who would not rather appear to know than to be taught.
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When we cannot hope to win, it is an advantage to yield.
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Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite.
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The learned understand the reason of art; the unlearned feel the pleasure.
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Medicine for the dead is too late.
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Without natural gifts technical rules are useless.
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That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.
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A man who tries to surpass another may perhaps succeed in equaling in not actually surpassing him, but one who merely follows can never quite come up with him: a follower, necessarily, is always behind.
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Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
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When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
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Men of quality are in the wrong to undervalue, as they often do, the practise of a fair and quick hand in writing; for it is no immaterial accomplishment.
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Study depends on the goodwill of the student, a quality that cannot be secured by compulsion.
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A religion without mystics is a philosophy.
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The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.
QUINTILIAN