Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will derive no more profit from this work than barren soil from a treatise on agriculture.
QuintilianRead
Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Worrying about what might happen in the future can be more detrimental than dealing with current challenges.
This quote by Quintilian emphasizes the idea that anxiety and fear regarding future uncertainties often create more distress than the realities we face in our current lives. It suggests that while the present may have its difficulties, allowing ourselves to be consumed by the fear of what lies ahead can lead to greater suffering and hinder our ability to cope with the present.
Themes
FearFutureAnxietyPresentFortune
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing life, one could use this quote to encourage people not to be held back by fear of future failures.
More from Quintilian
All quotes →As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.
QuintilianRead
Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
QuintilianRead
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
QuintilianRead
An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity.
QuintilianRead
It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.
QuintilianRead
Similar quotes
When one begins to reflect on philosophy—then philosophy seems to us to be everything, like God, and love. It is a mystical, highly potent, penetrating idea—which ceaselessly drives us inward in all directions. The decision to do philosophy—to seek philosophy is the act of self-liberation—the thrust toward ourselves.
NovalisRead
I have these realistic dreams and snap wide awake in the middle of the night. And for a while I can't work out what's real and what isn't... That kind of feeling. Do you have any idea what I'm saying?
Haruki MurakamiRead
Every day we're told that we live in the greatest country on earth. And it's always stated as an undeniable fact: Leos are born between July 23 and August 22, fitted queen-size sheets measure sixty by eighty inches, and America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it's startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are 'We're number two!
David SedarisRead
We are building together a nation in which there are no second-class Australians.
Bob HawkeRead
Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible.
Joseph AddisonRead
I have no argument with those who see in organized religion a template or an imperative to live life according to a prescribed set of beliefs. Just give others the room, within the laws of civil society, to believe or not believe whatever they like.
Michael J. FoxRead