John of Salisbury

“The only sure road to truth is humility.”

— John of Salisbury

We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did,…

— John of Salisbury

Between a tyrant and a prince there is this single or chief difference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the…

— John of Salisbury

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

— John of Salisbury

The common people say, that physicians are the class of people who kill other men in the most polite and courteous manner.

— John of Salisbury

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

— John of Salisbury

Verily if with mine own eyes I had seen a priest of God, or any of those who wear the monastic garb,…

— John of Salisbury

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

— John of Salisbury

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

— John of Salisbury

Among all the liberal arts, the first is logic, and specifically that part of logic which gives initial instruction about words. ...…

— John of Salisbury

Let him who is not come to logic be plagued with continuous and everlasting filth

— John of Salisbury

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

— John of Salisbury

“One who comprehends truth is wise, one who loves it good, one who orders his life in accordance with it happy.”

— John of Salisbury