Category Archives: education

Gluttony Over Glosses

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Matthew Phillips

“For clerks of our own day follow more readily the schools of Antichrist than Christ, are rather given to gluttony than glosses; they collect pounds rather than read books…now all learning goes cheap, all reading is half-hearted; there is no-one … Continue reading →

Posted in Alan of Lille, education, liberal arts, medieval, teaching, theology | Leave a comment

John Locke on the Study of History

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Matthew Phillips

“With Geography, Chronology ought to go hand in hand.  I mean that general part of it, so that he may have in his Mind a view of the whole current of time, and the several considerable Epochs that are made … Continue reading →

Posted in education, John Locke, Learning | Leave a comment

Making Friends

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Matthew Phillips

“Next, at fixed hours time should be given to certain definite reading.  For haphazard reading, constantly varied and as if lighted upon by chance does not edify makes the mind unstable; taken into the memory lightly, it goes out from … Continue reading →

Posted in Cistercian, education, reading, William of St Thierry | Leave a comment

Students of Wisdom

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

“Some of us are enslaved to glory, others to money.  But there are also a few people who devote themselves wholly to the study of the universe, believing everything else to be trivial in comparison.  These call themselves students of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicero, education, philosophy | Leave a comment

Luther on Pride of Students

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Matthew Phillips

“We have many students here who are so full of knowledge after they have been in Wittenberg half a year that they suppose they are more learned than I am.  When they go out into the country to other people, … Continue reading →

Posted in education, Learning, Martin Luther, pride | Leave a comment

Career Advice from the Renaissance

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“To decide which is the most suitable career to himself, a man must take two things into account: the first is his own intelligence, his mind and his body, everything about himself; and the second, the question requiring close considerations, … Continue reading →

Posted in education, Leon Battista Alberti, liberal arts, Renaissance | Leave a comment

Cassiodorus on Returning to Books

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“For learning taken from the ancients in the midst of praising the Lord is not considered tasteless boasting. Furthermore, you make a serious teacher angry if you question him often; but however often you want to return to these books, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cassiodorus, education, Learning, liberal arts, teaching | Leave a comment

Locke on Parents, Children, Liberty, and Natural Law

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“55. Children, I confess, are not born in this full state of equality, though they are born to it.  Their parents have a sort of rule and jurisdiction over them when they come into the world, and for some time … Continue reading →

Posted in education, John Locke, justice, nature, reason | Leave a comment

Erasmus on Teachings of Christ, Plato, and the Prince

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Matthew Phillips

“Before all else the story of Christ must be firmly rooted in the mind of the prince.  He should drink deeply of His teachings, gathered in handy texts, and then later from those very fountains themselves, whence he may drink … Continue reading →

Posted in education, Erasmus, government, Politics, teaching | Leave a comment

Elderly Counsel and the Youth

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Matthew Phillips

“It befits a youth to respect his elders and to choose from there the best and most upright, upon whose counsel and authority he might depend. For the inexperience of early life ought to be ordered and guided by the good … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicero, education, virtue | Leave a comment