I sought much, and wasted my time on nothing.

Multa quæsivi, frustra tempus consumpsi.

Hugo Grotius

Philosophers

Hugo Grotius

Dutch jurist (1583-1645), father of international law. His De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625) grounded the law of war and peace in natural law. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1619, he escaped in a book chest.

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Source: Last words attributed (1645), RostockUnverified

Hugo Grotius's Other Quotes

Even if we were to grant that there is no God, or that He has no concern for human affairs (the natural law would still hold).

The sea is free: it belongs to no one, and to all.

War must not be undertaken except for a just cause.

Related Quotes

Strive to return the divine in yourself to the divine in all.

-- Plotinus