3 Quotes & Sayings By Longinus

Longinus was a Latin writer in the 1st century CE. During his lifetime, Longinus was considered to be one of the greatest writers in Latin prose. His writings were also known to the ancient Greeks, who translated his work into their language, and they are referred to by modern scholars as "Longinus' Greek Commentary" or Διογένης τελευτῆς ἑπτασίας καὶ ἰσχύος ἡ ὁμώνυμη διήγησις. Longinus is often described as a neo-Platonist and an Aristotelian Read more

He wrote many of his works in Greek and was one of the first to translate Plato into Latin.

Sublime natures are seldom clean!
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Sublime natures are seldom clean! Longinus
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What then did those immortals see, the writers who aimed at all which is greatest and scorned the accuracy which lies in every detail? They saw many other things and they also saw this, that Nature determined man to be no low or ignoble animal; but introducing us into life and this entire universe as into some vast assemblage, to be spectators, in a sort, of her entirety, and most ardent competitors, did then implant in our souls an invincible and eternal love of that which is great and, by our own standard, more devine. Therefore it is, that for the speculation and thought which are within the scope of human endeavour not all the universe together is sufficient, our conceptions often pass beyond the bounds which limit it; and if a man were to look upon life all around, and see how in all things the extraordinary, the great, the beautiful stand supreme, he will at once know for what ends we have been born. Longinus