Summa Quotes
More Summa Quotes
Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.
horace— Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.Book I, ode iv, line 15.
Sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.
— But I will trace the footsteps of the chief events.
— Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC), I, 342.
Wonder is defined by Thomas [Aquinas] in the summa Theologiae [I-II, Q. 32, a. 8], as the desiderium sciendi, the desire for knowledge, active longing to know.
josef pieper— pp. 106–107
Summum Mentis bonum est Dei cognitio, et summa Mentis virtus Deum cognoscere. The greatest good of the mind is the knowledge of God, and the greatest virtue of the mind is to know God.
Baruch also known as Benedict de Spinoza Spinoza— 1677 Ethics, bk.4, prop.28.
En adsum tuis commota, Luci, precibus, rerum naturae parens, elementorum omnium domina, saeculorum progenies initialis, summa numinum, regina manium, prima caelitum, deorum dearumque facies uniformis, quae caeli luminosa culmina, maris salubria flamina, inferum deplorata silentia nutibus meis dispenso: cuius numen unicum multiformi specie, ritu vario, nomine multiiugo totus veneratus orbis.
apuleius— Behold me, Lucius; moved by thy prayers, I appear to thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of all things, the mistress of all the elements, the primordial offspring of time, the supreme among Divinities, the queen of departed spirits, the first of the celestials, and the uniform manifestation of the Gods and Goddesses; who govern by my nod the luminous heights of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the ocean, and the anguished silent realms of the shades below: whose one sole divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations.
— Bk. 11, ch. 5; p. 226.
Summum ius, summa iniuria
cicero— Law applied to its extreme is the greatest injustice
— Book I, section 10, 33.
Quid est aliud de philosophia tractare, nisi verae religionis, qua summa et principalis omnium rerum causa, Deus, et humiliter colitur, et rationabiliter investigatur, regulas exponere? Conficitur inde, veram esse philosophiam veram religionem, conversimque veram religionem esse veram philosophiam.
johannes scotus eriugena— What, then, is it to treat of philosophy, unless to lay down the rules of the true religion by which we seek rationally and adore humbly God, who is the first and sovereign cause of all things? Hence it follows that the true philosophy is the true religion, and reciprocally that the true religion is the true philosophy.
— De Divina Praedestinatione, ch. 1; translation from Kenelm Henry Digby Mores Catholici, vol. 8 (London: Booker & Dolman, 1837) p. 198.
Multos in summa pericula misitventuri timor ipse mali.
marcus annaeus lucanus— But many are driven to utmost peril by the mere dread of coming danger.
— Book VII, line 104.
Ius summum saepe summa est malitia.
terence— Extreme law is often extreme injustice.Act IV, scene 5, line 48 (796).
Nec iurare time: veneris periuria ventiinrita per terras et freta summa ferunt.gratia magna Iovi: vetuit Pater ipse valere,iurasset cupide quidquid ineptus amor.
tibullus— Be not afraid to swear. Null and void are the perjuries of love; the winds bear them ineffective over land and the face of the sea. Great thanks to Jove! The Sire himself has decreed no oath should stand that love has taken in the folly of desire.
— Bk. 1, no. 4, line 21
Multos in summa pericula misitVenturi timor ipse mali.
marcus annaeus lucanus— The mere apprehension of a coming evil has put many into a situation of the utmost danger.
— Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Pharsalia, VII. 104.
Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus.
virgil— The fatal day, th' appointed hour, is come.Line 324 (translated by John Dryden); of Troy's doom.Cf. Conington's translation: 'Tis come, our fated day of death.
The mere apprehension of a coming evil has put many into a situation of the utmost danger.
Multos in summa pericula misit Venturi timor ipse mali.
— Pharsalia, VII. 104.
Invidiam. tamquam ignem, summa petere.
— Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.
— Livy, Annales (Histories), Book VIII, Section 31 (sometimes poetically translated as "Envy, like fire, soars upward").
Multos in summa pericula misit venturi timor ipse mali.
— But many are driven to utmost peril by the mere dread of coming danger.
— Book VII, line 104.
Summarum summa est æternum.
— The sum total of all sums total is eternal.
— Lucretius in De Rerum Natura, III, 817. Also in Book V, 362
En adsum tuis commota, Luci, precibus, rerum naturae parens, elementorum omnium domina, saeculorum progenies initialis, summa numinum, regina manium, prima caelitum, deorum dearumque facies uniformis, quae caeli luminosa culmina, maris salubria flamina, inferum deplorata silentia nutibus meis dispenso: cuius numen unicum multiformi specie, ritu vario, nomine multiiugo totus veneratus orbis.
— Behold me, Lucius; moved by thy prayers, I appear to thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of all things, the mistress of all the elements, the primordial offspring of time, the supreme among Divinities, the queen of departed spirits, the first of the celestials, and the uniform manifestation of the Gods and Goddesses; who govern by my nod the luminous heights of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the ocean, and the anguished silent realms of the shades below: whose one sole divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations.
— Bk. 11, ch. 5; p. 226.
Quid est aliud de philosophia tractare, nisi verae religionis, qua summa et principalis omnium rerum causa, Deus, et humiliter colitur, et rationabiliter investigatur, regulas exponere? Conficitur inde, veram esse philosophiam veram religionem, conversimque veram religionem esse veram philosophiam.
— What, then, is it to treat of philosophy, unless to lay down the rules of the true religion by which we seek rationally and adore humbly God, who is the first and sovereign cause of all things? Hence it follows that the true philosophy is the true religion, and reciprocally that the true religion is the true philosophy.
— De Divina Praedestinatione, ch. 1; translation from Kenelm Henry Digby Mores Catholici, vol. 8 (London: Booker & Dolman, 1837) p. 198.
Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.
— Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.
— Book I, ode iv, line 15.
Ius summum saepe summa est malitia.
— Act IV, scene 5, line 48 (796).
Nec iurare time: veneris periuria venti inrita per terras et freta summa ferunt. gratia magna Iovi: vetuit Pater ipse valere, iurasset cupide quidquid ineptus amor.
— Be not afraid to swear. Null and void are the perjuries of love; the winds bear them ineffective over land and the face of the sea. Great thanks to Jove! The Sire himself has decreed no oath should stand that love has taken in the folly of desire.
— Bk. 1, no. 4, line 21
Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus.
— Cf. Conington's translation: 'Tis come, our fated day of death.
Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.
— Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.
— Horace, Odes, Book I, ode iv, line 15.
Summum ius, summa iniuria
— Law applied to its extreme is the greatest injustice
— Book I, section 10, 33.
summa petit livor: perflant altissima venti.
— Envy assails the noblest: the winds howl around the highest peaks.
— Ovid, Remedia Amoris, CCCLXIX.
Interea glaciali figore rigenti insulae et velut longiore terrarum secessu soli visibili non proximae verus ille non de firmamento solum temporali sed de summa etiam caelorum arce tempora cuncta excedente universo orbi praefulgidum sui coruscum ostendens, tempore, ut scimus, summo Tiberii Caesaris, quo absque ullo impedimento delatoribus militum eiusdem, radios suos primum indulget, id est sua praecepta, Christus.
gildas— Translation: Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received the beams of light, that is, the holy precepts of Christ, the true Sun, showing to the whole world his splendour, not only from the temporal firmament, but from the height of heaven, which surpasses every thing temporal, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without impediment, and death threatened to those who interfered with its professors.
— Section 8
Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received the beams of light, that is, the holy precepts of Christ, the true Sun, showing to the whole world his splendour, not only from the temporal firmament, but from the height of heaven, which surpasses every thing temporal, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without impediment, and death threatened to those who interfered with its professors.
Interea glaciali figore rigenti insulae et velut longiore terrarum secessu soli visibili non proximae verus ille non de firmamento solum temporali sed de summa etiam caelorum arce tempora cuncta excedente universo orbi praefulgidum sui coruscum ostendens, tempore, ut scimus, summo Tiberii Caesaris, quo absque ullo impedimento delatoribus militum eiusdem, radios suos primum indulget, id est sua praecepta, Christus.
— De Excidio Britanniae (On the Ruin of Britain), Section 8
