[16]
For there is ever in the mind of man a certain
element of lofty and unbending pride that will not
brook superiority: and for this reason we take delight in raising the humble and submissive to their
feet, since such an act gives us a consciousness of our
[p. 165]
superiority, and as soon as all sense of rivalry disappears, its place is taken by a feeling of humanity.
But the man who exalts himself beyond reason is
looked upon as depreciating and showing a contempt
for others and as making them seem small rather
than himself seem great.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.