We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
OvidRead
Note too that a faithful study of the liberal arts humanizes character and permits it not to be cruel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Studying the liberal arts enhances one's character and promotes kindness.
Ovid suggests that engaging deeply with the liberal arts fosters a compassionate and humane character. By immersing oneself in literature, philosophy, and the arts, a person is likely to develop empathy and understanding, countering tendencies toward cruelty.
Themes
Liberal ArtsEducationCharacterHumanityKindness
In practice
Example use cases
A teacher might use this quote to inspire students in a liberal arts course.
More from Ovid
All quotes βAll things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.
OvidRead
A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.
OvidRead
Fas est ab hoste doceri._x000D_ One should learn even from one's enemies.
OvidRead
Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.
OvidRead
The end doesn't justify the means.
OvidRead
Similar quotes
I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my twenty-five years of teaching - that schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders.
John Taylor GattoRead
Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.
Carl SandburgRead
People flock in, nevertheless, in search of answers to those questions only librarians are considered to be able to answer, such as "Is this the laundry?" "How do you spell surreptitious?" and, on a regular basis, "Do you have a book I remember reading once? It had a red cover and it turned out they were twins.
Terry PratchettRead
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
Booker T. WashingtonRead
No one can teach writing, but classes may stimulate the urge to write. If you are born a writer, you will inevitably and helplessly write. A born writer has self-knowledge. Read, read, read. And if you are a fiction writer, don't confine yourself to reading fiction. Every writer is first a wide reader.
Cynthia OzickRead
Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely rewarding.
Edsger DijkstraRead