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
Those who wish to appear learned to fools, appear as fools to the learned.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Trying to impress uneducated people can lead you to appear foolish to those who are knowledgeable.
This quote by Quintilian suggests that when individuals try to show off their knowledge or intelligence to those who lack understanding, they may inadvertently display their own ignorance and foolishness to those who are actually knowledgeable. It highlights the irony that true wisdom is often recognized by those who genuinely understand a subject, while superficial displays may attract the uneducated but repel the educated.
Themes
WisdomKnowledgeFoolsLearnedAppearances
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the importance of humility in education, this quote can be used to illustrate how true understanding is valued over superficial displays of knowledge.
More from Quintilian
All quotes βAs 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.
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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.
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Similar quotes
Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.
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This grieved me heartily ; and now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.
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We are even higher than the heavens, we are greater than angels; Why should we not transcend both? Our lodging-place is Majesty.
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All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy.
Wayne DyerRead
Master your words. Master your thoughts. Never allow your body to do harm. Follow these three roads with purity And you will find yourself upon the one way, The way of wisdom.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Give unto me, made lowly wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice; The confidence of reason give, And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!
William WordsworthRead