A Place of Brightness: Latin Quotes Worth Knowing: The Best Made Plans...

Monday, December 30, 2019

Latin Quotes Worth Knowing: The Best Made Plans...

Publilius Syrus was a slave brought from his native Syria to Roman Italy and managed to earn his freedom, become educated and famous, and leave us with a delightful collection of moral maxims.

Here is one worth knowing:

malum est consilium quod mutari non potest.
It is a bad plan which cannot be changed.
(Maxim 469)

This is advice worth noting as many of us are making New Year's Resolutions. Even if we do not succeed according to our most idealistic fantasies, we still would do well to adapt our plans to reality and still accomplish something, rather than nothing.

The quote reminds me of another important quote about plans:

In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

No comments:

Post a Comment

In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!