65 Motivational Quintilian Quotes On Success in Life

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. These motivational Quintilian quotes will motivate you.

Best Quintilian Quotes

1. Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it. ~ Quintilian
2. We should not speak so that it is possible for the audience to understand us, but so that it is impossible for them to misunderstand us. ~ Quintilian
3. The study depends on the goodwill of the student, a quality that cannot be secured by compulsion. ~ Quintilian
4. We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide. ~ Quintilian
5. Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly. ~ Quintilian
6. That which offends the ear will not easily gain admission to the mind. ~ Quintilian
7. One should aim not at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand. ~ Quintilian

8. In almost everything, the experience is more valuable than precept. ~ Quintilian

9. It is the heart that inspires eloquence. ~ Quintilian
10. Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish. ~ Quintilian
11. A mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power. ~ Quintilian
12. While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin. the opportunity is lost. ~ Quintilian
13. The learned understand the reason of art; the unlearned feel the pleasure. ~ Quintilian
14. An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity. ~ Quintilian
15. Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute. ~ Quintilian
16. A liar should have a good memory. ~ Quintilian
17. For the mind is all the easier to teach before it is set. ~ Quintilian
18. 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. ~ Quintilian
19. We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty. ~ Quintilian

20. While we are examining into everything we sometimes find truth where we least expected it. ~ Quintilian

21. A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue. ~ Quintilian Quotes
22. Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune. ~ Quintilian
23. Though ambition may be a fault in itself, it is often the mother of virtues. ~ Quintilian
24. Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly. ~ Quintilian
25. Without natural gifts technical rules are useless. ~ Quintilian
26. It is worthwhile too to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a boy’s mind from the effort. ~ Quintilian
27. Usage is the best language teacher. ~ Quintilian
28. When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield. ~ Quintilian
29. The prosperous can not easily form a right idea of misery. ~ Quintilian
30. Conscience is a thousand witnesses. ~ Quintilian
31. Sayings designed to raise a laugh are generally untrue and never complimentary. Laughter is never far removed from derision. ~ Quintilian
32. Everything that has a beginning comes to an end. ~ Quintilian
33. There is no one who would not rather appear to know than to be taught. ~ Quintilian
34. A great part of art consists in imitation. For the whole conduct of life is based on this: that what we admire in others we want to do ourselves. ~ Quintilian
35. If you direct your whole thought to work itself, none of the things which invade eyes or ears will reach the mind. ~ Quintilian
36. 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, Quintilian quotes on education
37. To my mind, the boy who gives the least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination. ~ Quintilian

38. That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes. ~ Quintilian

39. Fear of the future is worse than one’s present fortune. ~ Quintilian
40. The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity. ~ Quintilian
41. 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
42. Suffering itself does less afflict the senses than the apprehension of suffering. ~ Quintilian
43. Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake. ~ Quintilian
44. Men of quality are in the wrong to undervalue, as they often do, the practice of a fair and quick hand in writing; for it is no immaterial accomplishment. ~ Quintilian
45. Those who wish to appear learned to fools, appear as fools to the learned. ~ Quintilian
46. One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy. ~ Quintilian
47. For all the best teachers pride themselves on having a large number of pupils and think themselves worthy of a bigger audience. ~ Quintilian
48. Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite. ~ Quintilian
49. “The gifts of nature are infinite in their variety, and mind differs from mind almost as much as body from body.” ~ Quintilian
50. “He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.” ~ Quintilian

51. “The perfection of art is to conceal art.” ~ Quintilian

52. “To swear, except when necessary, is becoming an honorable man.
    [Lat., In totum jurare, nisi ubi necesse est, gravi viro parum convenit.]” ~ Quintilian
53. “Though ambition in itself is a vice, yet it is often the parent of virtues.
    [Lat., Licet ipsa vitium sit ambitio, frequenter tamen causa virtutem est.]” ~ Quintilian Quotes
54. “The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it to acquire something, even when separated from anyone.” ~ Quintilian
55. “The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.” ~ Quintilian
56. “Give me the boy who rouses when he is praised, who profits when he is encouraged and who cries when he is defeated. Such a boy will be fired by ambition; he will be stung by reproach, and animated by preference; never shall I apprehend any bad consequences from idleness in such a boy.” ~ Quintilian

57. “Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.” ~ Quintilian

58. “In a crowd, on a journey, at a banquet even, a line of thought can itself provide its own seclusion.” ~ Quintilian
59. “It is easier to do many things than to do one thing continuously for a long time.” ~ Quintilian
60. “The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is molded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.” ~ Quintilian
61. “Ambition is a vice, but it may be the father of virtue.” ~ Quintilian
62. “It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.” ~ Quintilian
63. “It is fitting that a liar should be a man of a good memory.” ~ Quintilian
64. “Verse satire indeed is entirely our own.” ~ Quintilian
65. “Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will derive no more profit from this work than barren soil from a treatise on agriculture.” ~ Quintilian

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