An open library of thought
Seek, in disgrace, the good that fortune cannot take back.
Fortune’s nature is change: her gifts never belonged to the one who possessed them, and adversity, by showing who remains a friend, can teach more than prosperity.
Losing a post shows which advantages depended on others and which belonged to one’s own judgment.
Wealth, office, power, fame and pleasure each promise a part of happiness; the Consolation argues that only the complete good, which Philosophy identifies with God, can satisfy the desire they all express.
Someone who gathers honours remains dependent on those who grant them and fears their loss.
Eternity is the whole, simultaneous and perfect possession of unending life; God knows all events as present, so this knowledge does not make free human acts necessary.
Seeing someone walk does not force the walking, even though what is seen must be happening while it is seen.
Genera and species do not exist apart as bodies do; they subsist in sensible things and are understood apart from them when the mind abstracts what is common.
A geometer studies a line without matter, although no line exists outside a body.