Quotes by Quintilian
That which offends the ear will not easily gain admission to the mind.
It is the heart which inspires eloquence.
We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.
Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune.
Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
In almost everything, experience is more valuable than precept.
Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly.
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.
Virtue, though she gets her beginning from nature, yet receives her finishing touches from learning.
While we ponder when to begin, it becomes too late to do.
Study depends on the goodwill of the student, a quality that cannot be secured by compulsion.
One should aim not at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand.
Our minds are like our stomaches; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite.
A mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.
An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity.
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.
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.