Daily Inspiration Quote by Quintilian

Indecision doesn’t just waste time; it quietly votes against you. Quintilian’s line has the brisk impatience of a teacher watching bright students sabotage themselves by waiting for the “right moment” to start. The sting is in the structure: “while we are making up our minds” sounds reasonable, even prudent, until the sentence snaps shut on “the opportunity is lost.” No villain, no catastrophe. Just a clock doing what clocks do.

As a Roman educator and rhetorician, Quintilian trained future advocates for public life, where hesitation isn’t neutral. In courts and politics, timing is an argument in itself: strike too late and your facts may still be true, but they’ve stopped mattering. The quote is less about impulsiveness than about the hidden costs of perfect preparation. It’s a critique of the self-flattering ritual of deliberation, the way “I’m still deciding” can masquerade as responsibility when it’s really fear of commitment.

The subtext lands hard in any culture built on competition for attention. Opportunity, in Quintilian’s world, was often literal: a case heard, a patron’s favor, a moment in the forum. Miss it and the system doesn’t pause for your clarity. That’s why the phrasing is so spare: he’s teaching a habit, not offering comfort. Begin before you feel ready, because readiness is frequently just the story we tell ourselves while the window closes.