from facing pages of bartlett's 16th

an emperor is subject to no one but god and justice.
—frederick i [barbarossa], c1122-1190

knowledge is the conformity of the object and the intellect.
—averroës, 1126-1198

anticipate charity by preventing poverty; assist the reduced fellowman, either by considerable gift, or a sum of money, or by teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the way of business, so that he may earn an honest livelihood, and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding out his hand for charity. this is the highest step and the summit of charity's golden ladder.
—maimonides, 1135-1204

when i find the road narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well-established truth except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing ten thousand fools—i prefer to address myself to the one man.
—maimonides

the spiritual perfection of man consists in his becoming an intelligent being—one who knows all that he is capable of learning.
—maimonides

in the realm of nature there is nothing purposeless, trivial, or unnecessary.
—maimonides

do not hold as gold all that shines as gold.
—alain de lille [alanus de insulis], d1202

there are no teachers of japanese poetry. but they who take the old poems as their teachers, steep their minds in the old style, and learn their words from the masters of former time—who of them will fail to write poetry?
—fujiwara no teika, 1162-1241

no freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him, except by the legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—magna carta, 1215

to none will we sell, to none deny or delay, right or justice.
—magna carta

day of wrath! o day of mourning!
see fulfilled the prophets' warning
heaven and earth in ashes burning!
—tommaso di celano, c1185-c1255

an example from the monkey: the higher it climbs, the more you see of its behind.
—saint bonaventure, c1217-1274