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.
QUINTILIANUsage is the best language teacher.
More Quintilian Quotes
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When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
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The perfection of art is to conceal art.
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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.
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Although virtue receives some of its excellencies from nature, yet it is perfected by education.
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An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity.
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The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
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By writing quickly we are not brought to write well, but by writing well we are brought to write quickly.
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A liar ought to have a good memory.
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A Woman who is generous with her money is to be praised; not so, if she is generous with her person.
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Lately we have had many losses.
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Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
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He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.
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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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Sayings designed to raise a laugh are generally untrue and never complimentary. Laughter is never far removed from derision.
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Where evil habits are once settled, they are more easily broken than mended.
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