Discover the best Boethius quotes that offer timeless wisdom on happiness, fortune, and virtue. Curated by PBC, these insights will enlighten your philosophical journey. For more enriching content, visit PennBookCenter.com.
Top 50 Quotes by Boethius
“Nothing is miserable unless you think it is so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.”
“Every fortune is good for some and bad for others.”
“For in all adversity of fortune the worst sort of misery is to have been happy.”
“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”
“Music is part of us, and either ennobles or degrades our behavior.”
“In other living creatures the ignorance of themselves is nature; but in men it is a vice.”
“For in a way the human soul is in this life imprisoned by the body, shackled by the chains of matter.”
“Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.”
“He who has calm within his own mind, will never find external things to disturb him.”
“If you are governed by your desires, you will be a slave; but if you govern your desires, you will be a king.”
“No man can be happy if he is tormented by the thought that he is not loved by those whom he loves.”
“It’s my belief that history is a wheel. ‘Inconstancy is my very essence,’ says the wheel. ‘Rise up on my spokes if you like but don’t complain when you’re cast back down into the depths.’ Good times pass away but then so do the bad.”
“So dry your tears. Give up this sorrow. One day you will understand that all this serves the greater good.”
“As the mind is cured by the study of philosophy, so is the body cured by medicine.”
“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.”
“It is clear that we are born for no other end than to seek happiness.”
“He who becomes wicked ruins his own moral nature and becomes miserable.”
“Those whose minds are fixed upon the transcendent eternal truths, they alone have true liberty.”
“The mind that is cheerful in its present state will be happy in whatever state it might be.”
“Why should the soul not have its own inheritance, the joy of knowing truth, the power of divine contemplation?”
“Whoever seeks what he cannot obtain will suffer more and more.”
“Without love and affection, the heart is but a cold stone.”
“The greatest evil is not done in a sordid den of crime but in the clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices.”
“The higher your situation, the more exposed you are to the calamities of fortune.”
“If there is a higher form of good, it must be sought through the intellect rather than the senses.”
“A single day grants what the years deny.”
“True happiness is to understand our place in the cosmos and to love the essence of God.”
“The universe is a vast system of interconnected causes and effects, each influencing and shaped by the other.”
“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.”
“The man who has learned to live with his fate has already conquered it.”
“There is no greater torment than to be free of pain and yet not to know happiness.”
“All men are either driven to wretchedness or led to goodness by the disposition of their soul.”
“For it is not in the outward appearance but in the inward disposition that happiness lies.”
“True nobility is based on virtue, not birth.”
“Nothing is ever beautiful from every point of view.”
“Good fortune deceives while bad fortune teaches.”
“There is nothing more wretched than a mind in misery.”
“The foolishness of men misleads their mind, thus clouds the pure and truthful eye of reason.”
“All men must die, but a wretched man dies a thousand times before his death.”
“A wise man should count his blessings rather than his misfortunes.”
“An unexamined life is subject to the greatest peril.”
“The mind of a wise man is always like the calm water, which remains undisturbed by external storms.”
“Man’s happiness or misery depends upon his attitude towards what he sees, rather than upon what he sees.”
“In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage.”
“Those things which are not eternal do not last forever.”
“Every day should be a balance between work and contemplation.”
“The greatest medicine is a true and honest friend.”
“If we accept the guidance of reason, we shall always be within the protection of virtue.”
“Contentment is the philosopher’s stone, which turns all it touches into gold.”
“The wise man is he who does not grieve for things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
Conclusion
These quotes by Boethius reveal profound insights into the human condition and the pursuit of happiness. For more inspirational quotes, check out the wisdom shared by various authors.
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