Quotes By Quintilian

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

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

Without natural gifts technical rules are useless.

To my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.

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

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

When we cannot hope to win, it is an advantage to yield.

We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.

The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is moulded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.

Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will derive no more profit from this work than barren soil from a treatise on agriculture.

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

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

Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake.

It 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.