Cassiodorus Quotes
Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator was a Roman senator, scholar, and statesman who served the Ostrogothic kings of Italy under Theodoric and his successors before retiring in the 540s to found the monastery of Vivarium on his family estates in Calabria. There he organized one of the earliest Christian programs of systematic manuscript copying, instructing his monks in his Institutes of Divine and Secular Learning to preserve and transmit both Christian texts and the classical heritage. The quotes below are attributed to Cassiodorus, organized by topic.
Cassiodorus on God
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Attributed to Cassiodorus:
“He who copies a sacred book labours with hands and tongue alike.”
Cassiodorus on Knowledge
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Attributed to Cassiodorus:
“Every age, however dark, has need of letters.”
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Attributed to Cassiodorus:
“What we owe to faithful copyists, no praise can match.”
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Attributed to Cassiodorus:
“Learning consoles the soul amid the disasters of the age.”
Cassiodorus on Mind
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Attributed to Cassiodorus:
“Memory is the storehouse of all the soul has gathered.”