Maxime Quotes
More Maxime Quotes
Ich solle niemals anders verfahren, als so, dass ich auch wollen k o« nne, meine Maxime solle ein allgemeines Gesetz werden. I ought never to act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law.
Immanuel Kant— 1785 Grundlagen zur Metaphysik der Sitten (Groundwork to a Metaphysic of Morals), ch.1 (translated by H J Paton).
[Descriptio Britanniae] Campis late pansis collibusque amoeno situ locatis, praepollenti culturae aptis, montibus alternandis animalium pastibus Maxime covenientibus, quorum diversorum colorum flores humanis gressibus pulsati non indecentem ceu picturam eisdem imprimebant, electa veluti sponsa monilibus diversis ornata, fontibus lucidis crebris undis niveas veluti glareas pellentibus, pernitidisque rivis leni murmure serpentibus ipsorumque in ripis accubantibus suavis soporis pignus praetendentibus, et lacubus frigidum aquae torrentem vivae exundantibus irrigua.
gildas— Translation: [Description of Britain] Its plains are spacious, its hills are pleasantly situated, adapted for superior tillage, and its mountains are admirably calculated for the alternate pasturage of cattle, where flowers of various colours, trodden by the feet of man, give it the appearance of a lovely picture. It is decked, like a man's chosen bride, with divers jewels, with lucid fountains and abundant brooks wandering over the snow white sands; with transparent rivers, flowing in gentle murmurs, and offering a sweet pledge of slumber to those who recline upon their banks, whilst it is irrigated by abundant lakes, which pour forth cool torrents of refreshing water.
— Section 3
Notissimum [...] malum Maxime tolerabile
livy— Translation: The best known evil is the most tolerable.
— Variant: Those ills are easiest to bear with which we are most familiar.
— Book XXIII, sec. 3
Quaestiones, quae ad mathematicae fundamenta pertinent, etsi hisce temporibus a multis tractatae, satisfacienti solutione et adhuc carent. Hic difficultas Maxime en sermonis ambiguitate oritur. Quare summi interest verba ipsa, quibus utimur attente perpendere.
giuseppe peano— Questions that pertain to the foundations of mathematics, although treated by many in recent times, still lack a satisfactory solution. Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use.
— Arithmetices Principia, nova methodo exposita [The Principles of Arithmetic, presented by a new method] (1889)
At vos, o superi, et divum tu Maxime rector Juppiter, Arcadii, quaeso, miserescite regis Et patrias audite preces: si numina vestra Incolumem Pallanta mihi, si fata reseruant, Si visurus eum vivo et venturus in unum: Vitam oro, patiar quemvis durare laborem. Sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris, Nunc, nunc o liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam, Dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri, Dum te, care puer, mea sola et sera voluptas, Complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris Vulneret.
virgil— Ye gods, and mighty Jove, in pity bring
Relief, and hear a father and a king!
If fate and you reserve these eyes, to see
My son return with peace and victory;
If the lov'd boy shall bless his father's sight;
If we shall meet again with more delight;
Then draw my life in length; let me sustain,
In hopes of his embrace, the worst of pain.
But if your hard decrees—which, O! I dread—
Have doom'd to death his undeserving head;
This, O this very moment, let me die!
While hopes and fears in equal balance lie;
While, yet possess'd of all his youthful charms,
I strain him close within these aged arms;
Before that fatal news my soul shall wound!Lines 578–580 (translated by John Dryden).Cf. Pitt's translation:
Notissimum quodque malum Maxime tolerabile.
— The best known evil is the most tolerable.
— Livy, Annales, XXIII, 3
Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium, Maxime dicentes vera, cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum animam deceptam, pacto quodam societatis irretiant.
— II, xvii, 37
— Translation published in Mathematics in Western Culture (1953): The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell.
— Modern translation by J.H. Taylor in Ancient Christian Writers (1982): Hence, a devout Christian must avoid astrologers and all impious soothsayers, especially when they tell the truth, for fear of leading his soul into error by consorting with demons and entangling himself with the bonds of such association.
— Note: The well known, but incorrect English translation was published on page 3 of Morris Kline's Mathematics in Western Culture (1953). This book is a favorite with math students and is still in print. The Latin word mathematici derives from the Greek meaning of "something learned" and refers mainly to astrologers. This was the chief branch of mathematics at the time but has been replaced in modern times by a plethora of other branches. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, the word "mathematician" still meant astrologer as late as 1710.
[Descriptio Britanniae] Campis late pansis collibusque amoeno situ locatis, praepollenti culturae aptis, montibus alternandis animalium pastibus Maxime covenientibus, quorum diversorum colorum flores humanis gressibus pulsati non indecentem ceu picturam eisdem imprimebant, electa veluti sponsa monilibus diversis ornata, fontibus lucidis crebris undis niveas veluti glareas pellentibus, pernitidisque rivis leni murmure serpentibus ipsorumque in ripis accubantibus suavis soporis pignus praetendentibus, et lacubus frigidum aquae torrentem vivae exundantibus irrigua.
— Translation: [Description of Britain] Its plains are spacious, its hills are pleasantly situated, adapted for superior tillage, and its mountains are admirably calculated for the alternate pasturage of cattle, where flowers of various colours, trodden by the feet of man, give it the appearance of a lovely picture. It is decked, like a man's chosen bride, with divers jewels, with lucid fountains and abundant brooks wandering over the snow white sands; with transparent rivers, flowing in gentle murmurs, and offering a sweet pledge of slumber to those who recline upon their banks, whilst it is irrigated by abundant lakes, which pour forth cool torrents of refreshing water.
— Section 3
Notissimum [...] malum Maxime tolerabile
— Translation: The best known evil is the most tolerable.
— Variant: Those ills are easiest to bear with which we are most familiar.
— Book XXIII, sec. 3
Quisquis ubique habitat, Maxime, nusquam habitat.
— He has no home whose home is all the world.VII, 73.
Quisquis ubique habitat, Maxime, nusquam habitat.
— He has no home whose home is all the world.
— VII, 73.
Maxime tamen curavit notitiam historiae fabularis usque ad ineptias atque derisum; nam et grammaticos, quod genus hominum praecipue, ut diximus, appetebat, eius modi fere quaestionibus experiebatur: "Quae mater Hecubae, quod Achilli nomen inter virgines fuisset, quid Sirenes cantare sint solitae."
— However, he had a particular bent for mythology and carried his researches in it to such a ridiculous point that he would test professors of Greek literature – whose society, as I have already mentioned, he cultivated above all others – by asking them questions like: "Who was Hecuba's mother?" – "What name did Achilles assume when he was among the girls?" – "What song did the Sirens sing?"
— Ch. 70
— Cf. Thomas Browne, Urn Burial, Ch. V
At vos, o superi, et divum tu Maxime rector Juppiter, Arcadii, quaeso, miserescite regis Et patrias audite preces: si numina vestra Incolumem Pallanta mihi, si fata reseruant, Si visurus eum vivo et venturus in unum: Vitam oro, patiar quemvis durare laborem. Sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris, Nunc, nunc o liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam, Dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri, Dum te, care puer, mea sola et sera voluptas, Complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris Vulneret.
— Cf. Conington's translation:
- "O ye Gods, and O great Jove,
Have pity on a father's love
And hear Evander's prayer:
If 'tis your purpose to restore
My Pallas to my arms once more;
If living is to see his face,
Then grant me life, of your dear grace:
No toil too hard to bear.
But ah! if Fortune be my foe,
And meditate some crushing blow,
Now, now the thread in mercy break,
While hope sees dim and cares mistake,
While still I clasp thee darling boy.
My latest and my only joy,
Nor let assurance, worse than fear,
With cruel tidings wound my ear."
