Marcus Fabius Quintilian Quotes

A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

A laugh, if purchased at the expense of propriety, costs too much.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

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.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

God, that all-powerful Creator of nature and architect of the world, has impressed man with no character so proper to distinguish him from other animals, as by the faculty of speech.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

The gifts of nature are infinite in their variety, and mind differs from mind almost as much as body from body.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

The perfection of art is to conceal art.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
Marcus Fabius Quintilian