Alcuin of York Quotes
Alcuin of York was an English Anglo-Saxon scholar, deacon, poet, and the principal intellectual adviser of the emperor Charlemagne. After many years as master of the cathedral school at York, he was invited in the 780s to lead the palace school at Aachen and the wider Carolingian renaissance of letters, liturgy, and Christian learning. The quotes below are attributed to Alcuin of York, organized by topic.
Browse Alcuin of York by topic
Alcuin of York on God
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“The church of St Cuthbert is spattered with the blood of the priests of God, stripped of all its furnishing, exposed to the plundering of pagans.”
Letter to the king of Northumbria, after the Viking raid on Lindisfarne (793), as quoted in Dan Jones , Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages (2021) -
“I, your Flaccus, am busy carrying out your wishes and instructions at St. Martin's, giving some the honey of the holy scriptures , making others drunk on the old wine of ancient learning.”
Letter to Charlemagne (796), as translated by Stephen Allott, Alcuin of York, c. A.D. 732 to 804: His Life and Letters (1974), p. 12 -
“The people, by Divine ruling, is to be led, not to be followed, and for witness persons of high standing are to be preferred. The saying, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God,' is not to be listened to, since the seething of the crowd is always near to madness.”
Populus iuxta sanctiones divinas ducendus est, non sequendus; et ad testimonium personae magis eliguntur honestae. Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox Dei , quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit. -
“Therefore remember to care rather for the soul than the flesh, for this remains and that perishes.”
Quapropter potius animam curare memento, quam carnem, quoniam haec manet, illa perit
Alcuin of York on Knowledge
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Attributed to Alcuin of York:
“He who teaches well has lived well.”
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Attributed to Alcuin of York:
“Languages are the keys to the wisdom of the past.”
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Attributed to Alcuin of York:
“Learning is the inheritance the wise leave to the future.”
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Attributed to Alcuin of York:
“Quiet study is the seedbed of true philosophy.”
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“Populus iuxta sanctiones divinas ducendus est, non sequendus; et ad testimonium personae magis eliguntur honestae. Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox Dei , quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.”
The people, by Divine ruling, is to be led, not to be followed, and for witness persons of high standing are to be preferred. The saying, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God,' is not to be listened to, since the seething of the crowd is always near to madness. | Letter to Charlemagne (800), as quoted in Eleanor Shipley Duckett, Alcuin, Friend of Charlemagne (1951), p. 224, footnote -
“Quapropter potius animam curare memento, quam carnem, quoniam haec manet, illa perit”
Therefore remember to care rather for the soul than the flesh, for this remains and that perishes. | Epitaph at St. Martin of Tours abbey [ citation needed ] -
“Epitaph at St. Martin of Tours abbey [ citation needed ]”
Quapropter potius animam curare memento, quam carnem, quoniam haec manet, illa perit
Alcuin of York on Politics
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Attributed to Alcuin of York:
“An unlettered king is a crowned ass.”