Boethius Professions : Philosopher Born : 480 Died : 524 Browse All Authors Top 46 quotes by Boethius 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. Mutability is our tragedy, but it's also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away. Boethius tragedy essence passing-away Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it. Boethius positivity stress happiness He who is virtuous is wise; and he who is wise is good; and he who is good is happy. Boethius virtuous wise happiness Balance out the good things and the bad that have happened in your life and you will have to acknowledge that you are still way ahead. You are unhappy because you have lost those things in which you took pleasure? But you can also take comfort in the likelihood that what is now making you miserable will also pass away. Boethius balance unhappy passing-away Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it - even if we so desired. Boethius united music-is ifs If there is a God, whence proceed so many evils? If there is no God, whence cometh any good? Boethius there-is-no-god if-there-is-a-god evil One's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune. Boethius vicissitudes virtue fortune So it follows that those who have reason have freedom to will or not to will, although this freedom is not equal in all of them. [...] human souls are more free when they persevere in the contemplation of the mind of God, less free when they descend to the corporeal, and even less free when they are entirely imprisoned in earthly flesh and blood. Boethius soul mind blood Inconsistency is my very essence; it is the game I never cease to play as I turn my wheel in its ever changing circle, filled with joy as I bring the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top Boethius essence games play Whose happiness is so firmly established that he has no quarrel from any side with his estate of life? Boethius quarrels sides happiness A person is an individual substance of a rational nature. Boethius rational individuality substance Wretched men cringe before tyrants who have no power, the victims of their trivial hopes and fears. They do not realise that anger is hopeless, fear is pointless and desire all a delusion. He whose heart is fickle is not his own master, has thrown away his shield, deserted his post, and he forges the links of the chain that holds him. Boethius tyrants heart men Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law. Boethius valentines-day law love In every kind of adversity, the bitterest part of a man's affliction is to remember that he once was happy. Boethius affliction adversity men You know when you have found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well. Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart. Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law. Boethius valentines-day heart fun So nothing is ever good or bad unless you think it so, and vice versa. All luck is good luck to the man who bears it with equanimity. Boethius good-luck men thinking Nothing is miserable unless you think it so. Boethius misery sad thinking Good men seek it by the natural means of the virtues; evil men, however, try to achieve the same goal by a variety of concupiscences, and that is surely an unnatural way of seeking the good. Don't you agree? Boethius evil men mean For in all adversity of fortune the worst sort of misery is to have been happy. Boethius depressing depression happiness Love has three kinds of origin, namely: suffering, friendship and love. A human love has a corporal and intellectual origin. Boethius love-and-friendship intellectual suffering Similar Authors F. H. Bradley philosopher Irving Copi philosopher Ivan Ilyin philosopher Ivan Illich philosopher Bion of Borysthenes philosopher Bonaventure philosopher All Authors
