Quotessence
Home / Topics / Medieval Quotes

Medieval Quotes

Browse 378 quotes about Medieval.

Related topics

PeopleWorldMedieval TimesModernIdeasIfsThinkingAgeCenturyHumansArtMindRealWarAncientChurchDoeMadeWholeBeliefKingsMenRealityReligiousBookChristianityCitiesFeelsFormHas BeensKnowsMeanPeriodsStills

Medieval Quotes

“In the comprehension of familiar truths guaranteed by authority, the age is much less concerned with originality of interpretation than with the confirmation and corroboration of the truths themselves. It regards the rediscovery of what has already been established, the reforming of what has already been formed and the reinterpretation of truth as pointless and meaningless. The supreme values are beyond question and contained in eternally valid forms; the desire to change them, merely for the sake of changing them, would be pure presumption. The purpose of life is possession of the eternal values, not mental activity for its own sake. This is a calm, firmly established age, strong in faith, never losing its confidence in the validity of its own conception of truth and moral law, having no intellectual dissension and no conflicts of conscience, feeling no yearning for the new and no boredom with the old. At any rate, it does not lend any support to such ideas and feelings.”

AuthorityInnovationIndividualityWay Of ThinkingMedievalEternal Value
Book:The Social History of Art, Volume 1: From Prehistoric Times to the Middle Ages
Create image

“I have told you,” Duncan said. “Until my memory returns, I can’t ask for Amber’s hand.” “But you can take the rest of her, is that it?” Duncan’s face darkened. “The people of the keep are whispering,” Erik said. “Soon they will be talking openly about a foolish maid who lies with a man who has no intention of—” “She has not—” Duncan began. “Leave off,” Erik snarled. “It will come as surely as sparks fly upward! The passion between the two of you is strong enough to taste. I’ve seen nothing like it in my life.” Silence was Duncan’s only response. “Do you deny this?” Erik challenged. Duncan closed his eyes. “No.” Erik looked at Amber. “I needn’t ask you about your feelings. You look like a gem lit from within... You burn.” “Is that such a terrible thing?” she asked painfully. “Should I be ashamed that I have finally found what every other woman takes for granted?” “Lust,” Erik said bluntly. “Nay! The profound pleasure of touching someone and not feeling pain.” Shocked, Duncan looked at Amber. He started to ask what she meant, but she was talking again, her words urgent, driven by the tension that vibrated through her. “Passion is part of it,” Amber said. “But only part. There is peace as well. There is laughter. There is...joy.”“ There is also prophecy,” Erik shot back. “Do you remember it?” FORBIDDEN / 147”

RomancePassionMedievalAmnesiaAmberMedieval Romance
Book:Forbidden
Create image

“Imagine the ancient society of India, and in fact all over the world, a few thousands years ago. In those days, rational thinking was quite scarce. Ignorance was the default mode of thinking. Only a handful of individuals were capable of higher intellectual thinking.”

InspirationalPhilosophyTruthScienceInspiringKnowledgeIgnoranceWise WordsWords Of WisdomBrainy QuotesScriptureMysticismWise SayingsScience And ReligionMedievalAncient Civilization
Author:Abhijit Naskar
Create image

“So, apart from casting runes, what other hobbies do you have? Forbidden rituals, human sacrifices, torturing? –”

TruthRomanceDeathGirlMagicSacrificeMysteryDangerousDangerDivineFutureHumanRomanticFortuneAncientYoung AdultMysteriousSuspenseTortureRitualWitchDeadLieTormentForbiddenMagicianGothicMedievalStraightforwardOccultYoung Adult RomanceProvocativeSinisterRiteBoyHauntedGothOminousPredictionFlirtGothic RomanceSacrificesOccultismHauntWiccaFortune TellingRunesDivinationFortune TellerPredictProvokeRuneForbidDruidYoung Adult Gothic RomanceTormentingTormentorTorturingCasting RunesCast RunesTell The Fortune
Book:Nightmarish Sacrifice
Create image

“micel walcan wolde we do from that daeg micel walcan in the great holt the brunnesweald but though we walced for wices months years though this holt becum ham to me for so long still we did not see efen a small part of it so great was this deop eald wud. so great was it that many things dwelt there what was not cnawan to man but only in tales and in dreams. wihts for sure the boar the wulf the fox efen the bera it was saed by sum made this holt their ham. col beorners and out laws was in here as they was in all wuds but deop deoper efen than this was the eald wihts what was in angland before men here i is meanan the aelfs and the dweorgs and ents who is of the holt who is the treows them selfs. my grandfather he telt me he had seen an aelf at dusc one daeg he seen it flittan betweon stoccs of treows thynne it was and grene and its eages was great and blaec and had no loc of man in them. well he was blithe to lif after that for oft it is saed that to see an aelf is to die for they sceots their aelf straels at thu and aelfscot is a slow death”

NatureEnglandMythologyMedievalForestFolklore
Author:Paul Kingsnorth
Create image

“Thus Arthur achieved the adventure of the sword that day and entered into his birthright of royalty. Wherefore, may God grant His Grace unto you all that ye too may likewise succeed in your undertakings. For any man may be a king in that life in which he is placed if so he may draw forth the sword of success from out of the iron of circumstance. Wherefore when your time of assay cometh, I do hope it may be with you as it was with Arthur that day, and that ye too may achieve success with entire satisfaction unto yourself and to your great glory and perfect happiness.”

InspirationalFantasyMythologyMedievalFolkloreLegendArthurian
Author:Howard Pyle
Create image

“I’ve always like Medieval literature. As a young girl I read mythologies and Norse legends, that sort of thing. I loved Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. While I was studying at Middle Tennessee State University for doctoral program I came in contact with more ancient literature. I examined older literature more seriously which intrigued and fascinated me very much; I was drawn to it. For the book I used all my own translations of Beowulf from my doctorate. Culture is contained in language, if you study a language you’ll see bits of culture, because the words are different and you see into the lives of the people. The Anglo-Saxon language touched me very deeply. Some of it is the heroic. Some of it is the melancholy. But there is also honor. You uphold, you fight to the death. Even if you watch movies, like Marvel comic book movies, like Thor: you want the great ones to win. Its even better if they have a fault. But you want the heroic character to win.”

MythologyMedievalAnglo SaxonNorse Legends
Author:Deborah A. Higgens
Create image

“By those who get a kick out of this sort of thing (and they are very numerous) inhumanity is enjoyed for its own sake, but often, nonetheless, with a bad conscience. To allay their sense of guilt, the bullies and the sadists provide themselves with a creditable excuses for their favorite sport. Thus, brutality toward children is rationalized as discipline, as obedience to the Word of God - "he that spareth the rod, hateth his son". Brutality toward criminals is a corollary of the Categorical Imperative. Brutality toward religious or political heretics is a blow for the True Faith. Brutality toward members of an alien race is justified by arguments drawn from what may once have passed for Science. Once universal, brutality toward the insane is not yet extinct - the mad are horribly exasperating. But this brutality is no longer rationalized, as it was in the past, in theological terms. The people who tormented Surin and the other victims of hysteria or psychosis did so, first, because they enjoyed being brutal and, second, because they were convinced that they did well to be brutal. And they believed that they did well, because, ex hypthesi, the mad had always brought their own troubles upon themselves. For some manifest or obscure sin, they were being punished by God, who permitted devils to besiege or obsess them. Both as God's enemies and as temporary incarnations of radical evil, they deserved the be maltreated. And maltreated they were - with a a good conscience and a heart-warming sense that the divine will was being done on earth, as in heaven.”

SinTortureMedievalBrutalityInhumanity
Book:The Devils of Loudun
Create image

“So, as long as you can get enough to eat, and can avoid all the various lethal infections, the dangers of childbirth, lead poisoning, and the extreme violence, you should live a long time. All you have to worry about are the doctors.”

HumorHealthMedieval
Book:The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Create image

“He was a strong and noble lord with piercing eyes of grey. He sat upon his noble throne shining like the dawn. His sword flashed like the brightest star. He led our people well. Yet here and now he lays in blood pierced with arrows. He was the friend of many knights. He loved the warrior games. His heart was won by a lady fair for marriage they did wait. A kindly prince, his duty carried him to another's bed. And on her death true love returned, finally they wed. He felt the grief of children lost to murder and to pain. I was the youngest of his blood. I'll never be the same. Here lays my father and my lord. I know not what to say. Except my father and my lord was slain here on this day. Here lays my father and my lord. I know not what to say. Except my father and my lord was slain here on this day….”

SongMurderNoblePrincessMedievalTributeKingLamentKnightBalladSlainDirgeKendric
Book:The Ghosts of the Past
Create image

“The prior turned back to Walter. “And thou, my child, must heed these good brothers, who dost seek the good of thy soul, to grow in thee the gentle spirit of the monk. And thou dost desire to be a worthy monk, dost thou not?” Walter bit his lip and was silent. “Walter, answer thou the father prior,” urged Bartholomew, alarmed by this diffidence. “Thou dost desire to be a worthy monk, I trow?” “No, Father,” whispered the boy. Brother Bartholomew crossed himself in horror. The prior’s face was a curious mix of sternness and concealed mirth. “Then what – wouldst be an unworthy monk?” he asked seriously. “No, Father – a…a knight!”

ChildrenFunnyMonkMedievalKnightMonasteryPriorPriory
Book:In God is My Hope
Create image

“I recall long ago sneaking into my father's study, and a man of great knowledge whose beard touched the ground entered the room and said, 'What do you plan on doing with the knowledge you attain?' I had not the answer to that and was more frightened of his Brobdingnagian looks that I grew short of words. Perhaps it was magic? That's when he walked over, pulled a chair, grabbed a book, and said, 'One must build upon the works of those that came before him.' I did not know it at the time, but the course of my life was set that day.”

FantasyBooksLiterary FictionMedievalDark FantasyBook ReviewsEpic BattlesAm ReadingAddicted To Books
Book:Tundra: The Darkest Hour
Create image