tutissima

Updated: May 18, 2025

Perplexed in the extreme, the youthful John bethought himself of an inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great grandfather's house at Amersfort 'nil scire tutissima fides. He resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent Creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire.

John Lothrop Motley - History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce — Complete (1584-86)

Nam et universi servitutis expertes, et nullae ultra terrae, ac ne mare quidem securum, imminente nobis classe Romana: ita proelium atque arma, quae fortibus honesta, eadem etiam ignavis tutissima sunt.

Cornelius Tacitus - Germania and Agricola

Perplexed in the extreme, the youthful John bethought himself of an inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great grandfather's house at Amersfort 'nil scire tutissima fides. He resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent Creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire.

John Lothrop Motley - History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce, 1585e