Q0312

Boethius

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Nothing is miserable unless you think it so.
Thinker Boethius
School Late Antique Philosophy
Source The Consolation of Philosophy II
Theme Judgment
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with The Consolation of Philosophy II, within the tradition of Late Antique Philosophy. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of judgment, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Boethius's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Boethius. (n.d.). Nothing is miserable unless you think it so. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0312

MLA: Boethius. “Nothing is miserable unless you think it so..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0312.

Chicago: Boethius. “Nothing is miserable unless you think it so..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0312.

Same thinker

More from Boethius

  1. In the bitterest turns of fortune, true friends are proved.
  2. Wealth does not take away need — it kindles new wants.

All quotations by Boethius

Same theme

More on judgment

  1. It is not things that disturb people, but their judgments about things.
  2. If you are distressed by anything external, it is not the thing itself that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.
  3. Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention.
  4. Better a well-made head than a well-filled head.
  5. The great method of ordering the world lies in discerning the times and gauging the situation.

Browse the judgment theme