on Learning and Literature

by Leonardo Bruni
a Florentine Humanist

The foundation osf all true learning must be laid in the sound and thorough knowledge of Latin, which implies study marked by a broad spirt, accurate scholarship, and careful attention to details.

To attain this essential knowledge we must never relax our carful attenion to teh grammar of the language, but perpetually confirm and extend our acquaintance with it until it is thorughly our own...to this end we must be supremely careful in our choice of authors, lest an inartistic and debased style infect our own writing and degrade our taste...