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.
I think people read the tabloids because they want to see you eating a burger, or out of your makeup or doing something stupid because they just want to see that you're like everyone else. And that's okay. I don't want to catch myself anymore saying that my life is hard, because the good far outweighs the bad in my life. And it's easier to focus on those things, on the things that are important.
We have been ruled by men who live by illusions ... the illusion that there is some other way of creating wealth than hard work and satisfying your customers.
You must purge yourself before finding faults in others.
You have to be odd to be number one.
She was fluent in four languages and yet her fists against the rusted hood were the fullest articulation of her defeat.
The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. The grass is greenest where it is watered.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.