Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Quotes

• Let some holy ambition invade our souls, so that, dissatisfied with mediocrity, we shall eagerly desire the highest things and shall toil with all our strength to obtain them, since we may if we wish.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Ambition, Soul, Wish

  32 Copy quote

• To [man] it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Men, Granted

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1953). “Oratio de Hominis Dignitate: Oration on the Dignity of Man. English Translation by Elizabet Livermore Forbes”

  34 Copy quote

• Whatever seeds each man cultivates will grow to maturity and bear in him their own fruit. If they be vegetative, he will be like a plant.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Men, Maturity, Fruit

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1953). “Oratio de Hominis Dignitate: Oration on the Dignity of Man. English Translation by Elizabet Livermore Forbes”

  34 Copy quote

• A sacred pride should grip us of not being satisfied with the mediocre but to strive (for we can do it, if we want to) with the exertion of all our strength to attain the highest. Let us scorn what is of this earth, let us ignore what is of heaven, let us leave absolutely everything worldly behind us in order to hasten to the abode out of this world, in the proximity of the sublime deity. We do not need to think of stepping back. Of being satisfied with second rank, let us strive for dignity and glory. To attain the highest.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Pride, Thinking, Order

  30 Copy quote

• God the Father, the supreme Architect, had already built this cosmic home we behold, the most sacred temple of His godhead, by the laws of His mysterious wisdom.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Wisdom, Father, Home

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1951). “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

  15 Copy quote

• On man when he came into life the Father conferred the seeds of all kinds and the germs of every way of life.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Father, Men, Way

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1953). “Oratio de Hominis Dignitate: Oration on the Dignity of Man. English Translation by Elizabet Livermore Forbes”

  17 Copy quote

• But, when the work was finished, the Craftsman kept wishing that there were someone to ponder the plan of so great a work, to love its beauty, and to wonder at its vastness.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Wish, Vastness, Wonder

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1951). “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

  16 Copy quote

• The Pythagoreans degrade impious men into brutes and, if one is to believe Empedocles, even into plants.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Believe, Men, Aggravation

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1951). “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

  19 Copy quote

• For why should we not admire more the angels themselves and the blessed choirs of heaven?

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Blessed, Angel, Heaven

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1951). “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

  13 Copy quote

• Admittedly great though these reasons be, they are not the principal grounds, that is, those which may rightfully claim for themselves the privilege of the highest admiration.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Privilege, May, Admiration

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1951). “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

  16 Copy quote

• It was not the part of His kindly love that he who was to praise God's divine generosity in regard to others should be compelled to condemn it in regard to himself.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Generosity, Praise, Divine

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1951). “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

  12 Copy quote

• But in its final creation it was not the part of the Father's power to fail as though exhausted. It was not the part of His wisdom to waver in a needful matter through poverty of counsel.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Wisdom, Father, Finals

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1953). “Oratio de Hominis Dignitate: Oration on the Dignity of Man. English Translation by Elizabet Livermore Forbes”

  13 Copy quote

• At last the best of artisans ordained that that creature to whom He had been able to give nothing proper to himself should have joint possession of whatever had been peculiar to each of the different kinds of being.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Should Have, Giving, Different

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1953). “Oratio de Hominis Dignitate: Oration on the Dignity of Man. English Translation by Elizabet Livermore Forbes”

  21 Copy quote

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