“Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.”
Act IV, scene 2, line 8 (675).
Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor)
Original
Nil tam difficile est quin quaerendo investigari possit.
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Terence 46
Roman comic playwright -185–-159 BCRelated quotes
Source: The Origin of Species
“Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.”
Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 39e
“Music should humbly seek to please; within these limits great beauty may perhaps be found.”
Quoted in French Music : From the Death of Berlioz to the Death of Fauré (1951) by Martin Cooper, p. 136, and in Debussy and Wagner (1979) by Robin Holloway, p. 207
Context: Music should humbly seek to please; within these limits great beauty may perhaps be found. Extreme complication is contrary to art. Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part.
“Difficult because if you wish to possess the kingdom you may possess nothing else.”
The Way to Love (1995)
Context: To find the kingdom is the easiest thing in the world but also the most difficult. Easy because it is all around you and within you, and all you have to do is reach out and take possession of it. Difficult because if you wish to possess the kingdom you may possess nothing else. That is, you must drop all inward leaning on any person or thing, withdrawing from them forever the power to thrill you, or excite you, or to give you a feeling of security or well-being. For this, you first need to see with unflinching clarity this simple and shattering truth: Contrary to what your culture and religion have taught you, nothing, but absolutely nothing can make you happy. The moment you see that, you will stop moving from one job to another, one friend to another, one place, one spiritual technique, one guru to another. None of these things can give you a single minute of happiness. They can only offer you a temporary thrill, a pleasure that initially grows in intesity, then turns into pain if you lose them and into boredom if you keep them.
Variant: The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.
“As nothing is more easy than to think, so nothing is more difficult than to think well.”
First Century, sect. 8.
Centuries of Meditations
“Nothing is so hard that it can't be found by searching.”
Source: White Witch, Black Curse
“There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.”
Act IV, scene 6, line 1 (805).
Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor)