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.
QUINTILIANWe 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.
QUINTILIANA laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
QUINTILIANIt is easier to do many things than to do one thing continuously for a long time.
QUINTILIANWhen defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
QUINTILIANOne should aim not at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand.
QUINTILIANWhere evil habits are once settled, they are more easily broken than mended.
QUINTILIANThose who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
QUINTILIANFear of the future is worse than one’s present fortune.
QUINTILIANForbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
QUINTILIANIt is worth while too to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a boy’s mind from effort.
QUINTILIANFor comic writers charge Socrates with making the worse appear the better reason.
QUINTILIANA liar ought to have a good memory.
QUINTILIANThe pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
QUINTILIANSayings designed to raise a laugh are generally untrue and never complimentary. Laughter is never far removed from derision.
QUINTILIANTo my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.
QUINTILIANNothing can be pleasing which is not also becoming.
QUINTILIAN