Letter 1571: True humility is not the absence of accomplishment but the refusal to boast about it.
Since it cannot come into being, but easily proceeds toward non-being. The probable, then...
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Α ναι μὴ δυναμένης, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν χωρῆσαι ῥᾳδίως
ἐπισταμένης. Τὸ εἰκὸς μὲν γὰρ ζητεῖτε, ἀλλ' οὐδέπω
τούτῳ καιρός. Ἥξει χρόνος ὅτε λάμψετε ὡς ἥλιος ·
τοὺς δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑψηλοτέρους δόξης, ὡς
φιλοσόφους ἀναῤῥητέον.
Related Letters
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Anger is a fire: useful when controlled, devastating when unleashed.
Virtue must be practiced with all one's strength — not merely admired from a distance.
A brief editorial note.