Term
| "Almost all were inclined to a very cruel purpose, that is, to shun and to flee the sick and their belongings. By so behaving, each believed that he would gain safety for himself" |
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Definition
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Term
"Of my fifth husband I have this to tell
– I pray God keep and save his soul from hell! –
And yet he was to me the worst of all:
I feel it on my ribs, on each and all,
And always will until my dying day!" |
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Definition
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Term
| "She invented numbers and a means of quickly counting and adding sums. Her mind was so enlightened with general knowledge that she devised various skills and designs which had never before been discovered." |
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Definition
| CHRISTINE de PISAN The Book of the City of Ladies |
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Term
| "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. Therefore, when everything was done (as Moses and Timaeus bear witness), He finally took thought concerning the creation of man." |
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Definition
| MIRANDOLA Oration on the Dignity of Man |
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Term
| "You need to know, then, that there are two ways of fighting: one according to the laws, the other with force. The first is suited to man, the second to the animals; but because the first is often not sufficient, a prince must resort to the second." |
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Definition
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Term
| "…others prefer to be called Benedictines or Augustinians, Williamists, or Jacobines – as if it were not enough to be called Christians. In short, all the different orders make sure that nothing in their lives will be uniform; nor is it so much their concern to be like Christ as it is to be unlike one another." |
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Definition
| ERASMUS The Praise of Folly |
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Term
| "Why should it behoove me to find this barking, snorting pack of provocateurs worthy of my forbearance, when important and distinguished gentlewomen always esteem and honor me?" |
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Definition
| CERETA. Defense of the Liberal Instruction for Women. |
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Term
| "Thus male and female always go naturally together, and one cannot exist without the other. So by very definition we cannot call anything male unless it has its female counterpart, or anything female if it has no male counterpart." |
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Definition
| CASTIGLIONE. The Courtier. |
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Term
"All at once the Duke said: “Now tell me, Benvenuto, how can you possibly succeed with this beautiful head of Medusa, way up there in the hand of Perseus?”
Straight away I replied: “Now see, my lord: if your Excellency understood this art as you claim to then you wouldn’t be worried about that head not succeeding; but you’d be right to be anxious about the right foot, which is so far down.” |
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Definition
| CELLINI The autobiography. |
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Term
| "It is marvelous what firmness they show in their combats, which never ended but in slaughter and bloodshed; for as for routs and terror, they do not know what that means." |
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Definition
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Term
"What is the benefit of such eating and drinking?
Answer: The eating and drinking do not in themselves produce them, but the words “for you” and “for the forgiveness of sins.” |
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Definition
| MARTIN LUTHER. Enchiridion |
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Term
"O, my offence is rank; it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t,
A brother’s murder! – Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will;" |
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Definition
| WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Hamlet. |
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Term
"He spake; and, to confirm his words, out-flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumined Hell." |
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Definition
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Term
"We’re tapers too, and at our own cost die,
And we in us find the eagle and the dove.
The phoenix riddle hath more wit
By us; we two being one, are it." |
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Definition
| JOHN DONNE. Cannoization. |
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Term
"On thou that on this foot hast laid
Many a kisse, and many a Teare.
Now thou shal’t have all repaid.
Whatsoe’re thy charges were." |
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Definition
| CRASHAW. The wounds of Our Crucified Lord. |
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Term
| "For the savage people in many places of America, except the government of small families, the concord whereof dependeth on natural lust, have no government at all, and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I said before." |
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Definition
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Term
| "But the ignorance wherein many men are of them, and the slowness of assent wherewith others receive them, are manifest proofs that they are not innate, and such as offer themselves to their view without searching." |
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Definition
| JOHN LOCKE. Essay Concerning Human Understanding. |
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Term
"If, in compassion for my soul’s distress,
You’ll stoop to comfort my unworthiness,
I’ll raise to you, in thanks for that sweet manna,
An endless hymn, an infinite hosanna.
With me, of course, there need be no anxiety,
No fear of scandal or of notoriety." |
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Definition
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Term
| "O Princess and world-famous Lady of El Toboso! How is it that your magnanimous heart is not softened when you see the column and prop of knight errantry kneeling before your sublimated presence?” |
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Definition
| CERVANTES. The Adventures of Don Quixote. |
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