“As regards discipline, when was not prosperity to the unwary what fire is to wax, or the rays of the sun to snow and ice? David was wise, Solomon wiser; but, flattered by unlooked-for success, the one in part and the other altogether acted foolishly.”—Bernard of Clairvaux, De Consideratione II.12
“If Cleopatra’s nose had been shorter, the whole face of the earth would be changed.”—Pascal, Pensees“When a soldier or laborer complains about his hard work, give him nothing to do.”—Ibid.
“Too much and too little wine. If you give someone none, he cannot discover the truth. The same happens if you give him too much.”—Ibid.
“We should see [justice] enacted by all the states of the world, in every age, instead we see nothing, just or unjust, which does not change in quality with a change in climate. Three degrees of latitude overthrow jurisprudence. A meridian determines the truth…it is an odd kind of justice to have a river for its boundary.”—Ibid.
“Atheism: a sign of strength of mind, but only up to a certain point.”—Ibid.
“Every action ought to be free from undue haste or carelessness; neither ought we to do anything for which we cannot assign a reasonable motive; for in these words we have practically a definition of duty.”—Cicero, De Officies I.xxix
“Although philosophy offers many problems…those teachings which have been handed down on the subject of moral duties seem to have the widest practical application. For no phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life.”—Cicero, De Officies I.ii
“There is nothing so characteristic of narrowness and littleness of soul as the love of riches, and nothing more honorable and noble to be indifferent to money if one does not possess it, and to devote it to beneficence and liberality if one does.”—Cicero, De Officies I.xx
“But man’s mind is nurtured by study and meditation; he is always either investigating or doing, and he is captivated by the pleasure of seeing and hearing.”—Cicero, De Officies I.xxx
“Above all we must decide who and what manner of men we wish to be and what calling in life we would follow; and this is the most difficult problem in the world. For it is in the years of early youth, when our judgement is most immature, that each of decides that his calling in life should be that to which he has taken a special liking.”—Cicero, De Officies I.xxxii
“The noblest inheritance handed down from fathers to sons (one more precious than any patrimony) is a reputation for virtue and worthy deeds; and to dishonor this must be branded a sin and a shame.”—Cicero, De Officies I.xxxiii
“It is parents who name their children, and chance, not choice, that gives a man his country. But every man acquires for himself the liberal arts and virtue itself, and these are the most desirable things a man can seek.”—Pier Paolo Vergerio, The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth
“Boys who fear everything will dare nothing, and it is the case that boys who are afraid of making mistakes in every single thing will make mistakes always.”—Ibid.
“Therefore when we are alone and free from all our other cares, what better thing can we do than resort to our books, where everything is either most agreeable for learning or most conducive to living a good, holy life?”—Ibid.
“Everything will happen satisfactorily if time will be allotted suitably, if every day we allot fixed times to letters and are not distracted by affairs of any kind from reading something every day. For if Alexander used to read a great deal while campaigning, if Caesar used to write books even while marching with his army, and Augustus, after having undertaken so great an affair as the Modenese war, nevertheless always read or wrote in camp and declaimed every day, what activity is there that could interrupt our citified leisure-hours and summon us for so long from our literary studies?”—Ibid.
“She doesn’t have an ideological grind to pick.”—Brent Pinkall, Rhetoric Lecture 02/06/23
“The [modern American] church is a laughingstock. On the Reformed side, they can’t keep friends together for ten minutes, and on the non-Reformed side, they can’t make a sermon last for ten minutes.”—David Bahnsen, Crosspolitic episode “Frustration w/ the System and Classical Liberalism 02/14/23
“Many have squandered their patrimony by indiscriminate giving. But what is worse folly than to do the thing you like in such a way that you can no longer do it at all?”—Cicero, De Officies II.xv
“Scipio used to say that he was never less idle than when he had nothing to do and never less lonely than when he was alone.”—Cicero, De Officies III.i
“Students should allow no time to slip from them empty of study; let this be their business, their work, and their rest; let them devote their waking hours, even their sleep, to studies.”—Battista Guarino, A Program of Teaching and Learning
