“In every adversity of fortune, the unhappiest kind of misfortune is to have been happy.”
Boethius · Late Roman philosophy
happinesschangemind
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Boethius
c. 477–524 · Late Roman philosophy · Medieval
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was a late Roman aristocrat, a scholar of logic, and for a time a high official under the Ostrogothic king Theoderic. Around 524 he fell from power, was imprisoned, and was executed. In prison he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, a dialogue in prose and verse in which Lady Philosophy, not a preacher, argues him out of despair about fortune.
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The book draws on Plato and on Stoic moral psychology more than on explicitly biblical argument, which puzzled later Christian readers and also made it portable. Medieval Europe treated it as a schoolbook. Dante and Chaucer echo it. Boethius also translated and commented on parts of Aristotle's logic, work that fed the Latin tradition before the full Aristotelian revival.
The Consolation's question is what remains one's own when office, wealth, and reputation are stripped away, and whether happiness can be identified with a good that fortune cannot turn. Short English sentences from the book are often compressions of Philosophy's speeches, and the library marks those compressions.
Start here
The Consolation of Philosophy, book 2 and book 3
Book 2 stages fortune's defence and the claim about self-possession. Book 3 argues that happiness and the perfect good coincide. Later books on providence are harder and can wait.
Quotations
“If you are in possession of yourself, you possess something you would never wish to lose, and something fortune cannot take from you.”
Boethius · Late Roman philosophy
selfresiliencehappiness
Paraphrase or translation
“If you have come to the wheel of Fortune, you must accept her turns.”
Boethius · Late Roman philosophy
changeresiliencehappiness
Paraphrase or translation
“The good and happiness are one and the same.”
Boethius · Late Roman philosophy
happinessvirtuemeaning
Paraphrase or translation
“If God exists, whence comes evil? Yet whence comes good, if He exists not?”
Boethius · Late Roman philosophy
meaningethicsknowledge
Paraphrase or translation
Key ideas
Fortune's wheel
Goods that fortune gives are given on terms that include loss, so outrage at the turn mistakes the mechanism.
Self-possession
What is truly one's own cannot be confiscated with office or reputation, and that is where Philosophy relocates happiness.
Happiness and the good
Partial goods fail as happiness, and the complete good is argued to be identical with God.
Major works
The Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524)
A prison dialogue with Lady Philosophy on fortune, the good, evil, and providence. The medieval schoolbook.
Logical works and translations (early 6th century)
Translations and commentaries on Aristotelian logic that shaped early medieval teaching.
Influences
Influenced
- Thomas Aquinas
- Dante
- Chaucer
Common misreadings
- The Consolation is a sermon that calls prison pleasant, rather than an argument that the wrong goods had been treated as happiness.
- Fortune's wheel is the whole doctrine, rather than a first move before Philosophy relocates the good.
Famous lines Boethius never said
None of the lines this library files for Boethius is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
The Consolation of Philosophy, book 2 and book 3 Book 2 stages fortune's defence and the claim about self-possession. Book 3 argues that happiness and the perfect good coincide. Later books on providence are harder and can wait.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Boethius that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “In every adversity of fortune, the unhappiest kind of misfortune is to have been happy.” (The Consolation of Philosophy II, prose 4, Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Boethius is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Fortune's wheel: Goods that fortune gives are given on terms that include loss, so outrage at the turn mistakes the mechanism.