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
It is much easier to try one's hand at many things than to concentrate one's powers on one thing.
Interpretation
Focusing on one task is more challenging than attempting many.
This quote emphasizes the idea that multitasking or spreading oneself thin across various interests may seem easier, but true success and mastery come from dedicating one's efforts and concentration to a singular pursuit. It highlights the value of focus and commitment over the allure of dabbling in many different areas without achieving depth in any.
In practice
In a motivational speech about achieving long-term goals.
Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will derive no more profit from this work than barren soil from a treatise on agriculture.
As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.
Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.
An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer only in the want of opportunity.
It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.
After all, if you make your enemy look like a fool, you lose the justification for engaging him.
If you hear how wonderful you are often enough, you begin to believe it, no matter how you try to resist it.
If you can't say it simply and clearly, keep quiet, and keep working on it till you can.
Do not try to explain feelings. Live everything intensely and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.
But perhaps when you were too obedient, and did not do openly what others did, and were quiet in church and hard-working at school, then some unknown rebellion brewed in you, doing harm to you, though how I do not understand.
The noblest mind the best contentment has
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