Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim Quotes
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim was a tenth-century Saxon canoness, poet, and philosopher in the imperial abbey of Gandersheim, the first known dramatist of the post-classical Latin West, and the first major woman writer in medieval Christian Europe. Her six Latin plays, modeled on the comedies of Terence but turned to the praise of Christian virgin martyrs, fused classical philosophical dialogue with hagiography, while her Gesta Ottonis and her Primordia Coenobii Gandeshemensis treated the deeds of the Ottonian dynasty and the foundation of her own house. The quotes below are attributed to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, organized by topic.
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim on Knowledge
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Attributed to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim:
“What Terence wrote for the world, I write for the cloister.”
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Attributed to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim:
“Virgins of Christ may speak the Latin of philosophers; the language is not the property of the impious.”
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Attributed to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim:
“He who fears that women will write should remember that the wisest woman in heaven was once an unknown girl in Galilee.”
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim on Truth
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Attributed to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim:
“Comedy may be a vehicle of truth as readily as tragedy.”
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim on Virtue
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Attributed to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim:
“The proper task of the religious woman of letters is to put her gifts to the service of holiness.”