“2858. By Trifles and unheeded common Things of Life, thou may'st discover Mens Qualities, Tempers, and Inclinations, better than by their greater Actions : Because in Matters of Importance they strain themselves, but in lesser Things they heedlessly follow the Current of their own Natures.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727)
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Thomas Fuller (writer) 420
British physician, preacher, and intellectual 1654–1734Related quotes
Variant: The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel, are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), pp. 181-182.
“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.”
Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Hamburgische Dramaturgie (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10055/10055-8.txt
Misattributed
“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.”
Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln.
Hamburgische Dramaturgie http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10055/10055-8.txt (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767
The Educational Theory of Immanuel Kant (1904)
Context: Man has his own inclinations and a natural will which, in his actions, by means of his free choice, he follows and directs. There can be nothing more dreadful than that the actions of one man should be subject to the will of another; hence no abhorrence can be more natural than that which a man has for slavery. And it is for this reason that a child cries and becomes embittered when he must do what others wish, when no one has taken the trouble to make it agreeable to him. He wants to be a man soon, so that he can do as he himself likes.
Part III : Selection on Education from Kant's other Writings, Ch. I Pedagogical Fragments, # 62
Variant translation: Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
IV, 3.
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book IV
“Of course, however, the living voice and the intimacy of a common life will help you more than the written word. You must go to the scene of action, first, because men put more faith in their eyes than in their ears, and second, because the way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful, if one follows patterns.”
Plus tamen tibi et viva vox et convictus quam oratio proderit; in rem praesentem venias oportet, primum quia homines amplius oculis quam auribus credunt, deinde quia longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla.
Alternate translation: Teaching by precept is a long road, but short and beneficial is the way by example.
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter VI: On precepts and exemplars, Line 5.
