Gerald of Wales

Also known as Gerald of Wales: A Voice of the Middle Ages

Notable quotes

“Qui cum ex fratribus quatuor germanis pariter et uterinis natu minor existeret, tribus aliis nunc castra nunc oppida nunc palatia puerilibus, ut solet haec aetas, praeludiis in sabulo vel pulvere protrahentibus construentibus, modulo suo, solus hic simili praeludio semper ecclesias eligere et monasteria construere tota intentione satagebat.”
— Giraldus was the youngest of four blood-brothers. And when the three others in their childish games used to build castles and cities and palaces in the sands or mud, as a prelude to their future life, he, as a like prelude, always devoted himself entirely to building churches and to constructing monasteries.
“Hoc autem mihi notabile videtur, quod sicut nationis istius homines hac in vita mortali prae aliis gentibus impatientes et praecipites sunt ad vindictam, sic et in morte vitali meritis jam excelsi, prae aliarum regionum sanctis, animi vindicis esse videntur.”
— This seems to me a thing to be noticed, that just as the men of this country are, during this mortal life, more prone to anger and revenge than any other race, so in eternal death the saints of this land, that have been elevated by their merits, are more vindictive than the saints of any other region.
“Felix est illa civitas quae in pace bellum cogitat.”
— Happy the state which in times of peace is yet prepared for war.
“Nec alia, ut arbitror, gens quam haec Kambrica, aliave lingua, in die districti examinis coram Judice supremo, quicquid de ampliori contingat, pro hoc terrarum angulo respondebit.”
— Whatever else may come to pass, I do not think that on the Day of Direst Judgement any race other than the Welsh, or any other language, will give answer to the Supreme Judge of all for this small corner of the earth.
“To his industry we are exclusively indebted for all that is known of the state of Ireland during the whole of the middle ages, a few barren Chronicles excepted.”
— John S Brewer Giraldi Cambrensis Opera Vol. 1 (1861), p. xl.
“Giraldus mingles in the crowd, catches its accents, is borne along by its changing passions, and thus becomes a very mirror of that fighting, chaffering, praying age.”
— Sir John E Lloyd A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (1912) Vol. 1, p. 564.

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.