Category Archives: Renaissance

How Students Deceive Themselves

Posted on February 28, 2021 by Matthew Phillips

“For the first step in learning is the capacity to doubt, nor is there anything so inimical to learning as the presumption of one’s own erudition or excessive reliance upon one’s own wits: the one takes away our interest in … Continue reading →

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Delusion Makes You Happy

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Matthew Phillips

“If Folly is any judge, that man is the happiest who is most thoroughly deluded.  May he remain in that state which comes from me alone and is so widespread that I doubt whether there can be found one person … Continue reading →

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The Happiness of Deceit

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Matthew Phillips

“But they say it is an unhappy thought to be deceived.  To this I say no, for the unhappiest thought is not to be deceived.  For those who think that the happiness of a man can be found in things … Continue reading →

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The Final Judgment of Michelangelo

Posted on October 1, 2017 by Matthew Phillips

A Sonnet by Michelangelo The course of my life has already reached,                                                          … Continue reading →

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Reading the Best Authors

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Matthew Phillips

“This then will be our first study: to read only the best and most approved authors.  Our second will be to bring to this reading a keen critical sense.  The reader must study the reasons why the words are placed … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Artists and the Liberal Arts

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“I want the painter, as far as he is able, to be learned in all the liberal arts, but I wish him above all to have a good knowledge of geometry….Our rudiments, from which the complete and perfect art of … Continue reading →

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Proper Digestion

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“In the process of learning, the very thing that ought to be a great help, namely, a great desire to learn, often becomes for many people an impediment.  They want to take in everything at the same time, and are … Continue reading →

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Humanity as God’s Creation

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“Nature, that is, God, made man a composite of two parts, one celestial and divine, the other most beautiful and noble among mortal things.  He provided him with a form and a body suited to every sort of movement, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Leon Battista Alberti, memory, reason, Renaissance | Leave a comment

History and Education of a Prince

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Matthew Phillips

“It is not enough just to hand out precepts to restrain the prince from vices or to incite him to a better course—they must be impressed, crammed in, inculcated, and in one way and another be kept before him, now … Continue reading →

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