JOHN OF SALISBURY

[Logic and philosophy] were of no use, in the church or the state, in the cloister or the court, in peace or war, at home or abroad or anywhere but in the schools

The laws themselves become traps and snares, in which plain honest men, who were unacquainted with logical quirks and subtleties, were catched.

Between a tyrant and a prince there is this single or chief difference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the people by its dictates, accounting himself as but their servant.

At my solicitation [ad preces meas] he gave and granted Hibernia [Ireland] to Henry II, the illustrious King of England, to hold by hereditary right …. For all islands of ancient right, according to the Donation of Constantine, are said to belong to the Roman Church, which he founded

Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects makes the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint.

He who will not when he may, may not when he will.

With the rashness of ignorance the uninitiated dare to dabble in affairs of state.

The gifts of nature are necessary; but they are not sufficient to make a complete orator without art and study.

Undoubtedly, to the Pope, all things are allowable ; that is, all things that belong by divine right to ecclesiastical authority. He is free to make new laws and to do away the old ones. Only it is not in his power to change anything which, by the word of God, has eternal validity.

They err … who think that virtue consists of words .. good actions are the glory of virtue.

[Logic and philosophy] were of no use, in the church or the state, in the cloister or the court, in peace or war, at home or abroad or anywhere but in the schools

The gifts of nature are necessary; but they are not sufficient to make a complete orator without art and study.

The laws themselves become traps and snares, in which plain honest men, who were unacquainted with logical quirks and subtleties, were catched.

They err … who think that virtue consists of words .. good actions are the glory of virtue.

With the rashness of ignorance the uninitiated dare to dabble in affairs of state.

At my solicitation [ad preces meas] he gave and granted Hibernia [Ireland] to Henry II, the illustrious King of England, to hold by hereditary right …. For all islands of ancient right, according to the Donation of Constantine, are said to belong to the Roman Church, which he founded

Undoubtedly, to the Pope, all things are allowable ; that is, all things that belong by divine right to ecclesiastical authority. He is free to make new laws and to do away the old ones. Only it is not in his power to change anything which, by the word of God, has eternal validity.

Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects makes the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint.

Verily if with mine own eyes I had seen a priest of God, or any of those who wear the monastic garb, sinning, I would spread my cloak and hide him, that he might not be seen of any.

Among all the liberal arts, the first is logic, and specifically that part of logic which gives initial instruction about words. ... [T]he word "logic" has a broad meaning, and is not restricted exclusively to the science of argumentative reasoning. [It includes] Grammar [which] is "the science of speaking and writing correctly-the starting point of all liberal studies."

Seeking is a necessary preliminary to finding, and one who cannot endure the hardship of inquiry cannot expect to harvest the fruit of knowledge.

Between a tyrant and a prince there is this single or chief difference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the people by its dictates, accounting himself as but their servant.

Just as the soul animates the body, so, in a way, meaning breathes life into a word.

We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours.

A man is free in proportion to the measure of his virtues, and the extent to which he is free determines what his virtues can accomplish.

He who will not when he may, may not when he will.