“We can never enter upon the path to virtue unless we have hope as our guide and companion.”
Pelagius (360–420) British monk
Letter to Demetrias
Book II, Ch. 11
Essais (1595), Book II
“We can never enter upon the path to virtue unless we have hope as our guide and companion.”
Pelagius (360–420) British monk
Letter to Demetrias
Parmenides (-501–-470 BC) ancient Greek philosopher
Frag. B 2.2-6, quoted by Proclus, Commentary on the Timaeus I, 345
Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) United States poet, novelist and travel writer
Kilimandjaro (1852), Stanza 2; later published in The Poetical Works of Bayard Taylor (1907), p. 73.
“It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.”
Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767–1835) German (Prussian) philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the University of Berlin
Source: The Limits of State Action (1792), Ch. 8
Context: Setting aside the fact that coercion and guidance can never succeed in producing virtue, they manifestly tend to weaken power; and what are tranquil order and outward morality without true moral strength and virtue? Moreover, however great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial consequences. It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.
Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850–1896) Filipino writer, lawyer, and journalist (1850-1896)
Marcelo H. del Pilar to the women of Bulacan (1889)
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) American theologian
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 437.