Quotes by Quintilian

About Quintilian:

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus is usually referred to as Quintilian (/kw?n?t?lj?n, -i?n/), although the alternate spellings of Quintillian and Quinctilian are occasionally seen, the latter in older texts.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

Quintilian

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

Quintilian

As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.

Quintilian

The perfection of art is to conceal art.

Quintilian

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

Quintilian

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

Quintilian

While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin, the opportunity is lost.

Quintilian

Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.

Quintilian

We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.

Quintilian

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

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.

Quintilian

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

Quintilian

Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.

Quintilian

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

Quintilian

It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.

Quintilian

That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.

Quintilian

To swear, except when necessary, is becoming to an honorable man.

Quintilian

Without natural gifts technical rules are useless.

Quintilian

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.

Quintilian

Though ambition itself be a vice, yet it is often times the cause of virtues.

Quintilian

Author Bio

  • NameQuintilian
  • Descriptionancient roman rhetor
  • Born35
  • Died96
  • ProfessionWriter