Quintilian
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Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c.35 – c.100), was a Roman rhetorician. His De Institutione Oratoria was widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing.
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[edit] De Institutione Oratoria (c. 95 AD)
- We give to necessity the praise of virtue.
- Book I, 8, line 14. Compare: "To maken vertue of necessite", Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, "The Knightes Tale", line 3044.
- A liar should have a good memory.
- Book IV, 2, line 91. Compare: "Liars ought to have good memories", Algernon Sidney, Discourses on Government, chapter ii, section xv.
- Vain hopes are often like the dreams of those who wake.
- Book VI, 2, line 30. Compare: " For hope is but the dream of those that wake", Matthew Prior, Solomon on the Vanity of the World, book iii, line 102.
- Pectus est enim, quod disertos facit.
- Translation: For it is feeling and force of imagination that makes us eloquent.
- Book X, 7, line 15.
- Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
- Book X, 7, line 21. See also An X among Ys, a Y among Xs.
- We should not write so that it is possible for [the reader] to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us.
- Book VIII, 2, 24.
[edit] Attributed
- It is much easier to try one's hand at many things than to concentrate one's powers on one thing.
- Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly.
- Damnant quod non intellegunt.
- Translation: They condemn what they do not understand.
