Some MARSÍLIO FICINO

Nothing great can be possessed by us on earth, unless we men, for whose benefit all earthly things were created, possess ourselves; man can be taken by no other bait whatsoever than their own nature.

The cosmos is itself an animal more unified than any other animal, the most perfect animal, provided that is an animal. Therefore, just as in us the quality and motion of any member, in particular a principal member, extend to our other members, so in the cosmos the acts of the principal members moves all the rest, and the inferior members easily receive from the highest, which are ready of their own accord to give. For the more powerful the cause, the more ready it is to act and therefore the more inclined to give.

There are two kinds of people who are unfortunate beyond the rest: those who, having professed nothing, do nothing at all; others who subject themselves to a profession unsuited to their natural bent, contrary to their Genious. The do-nothings vegetate lazily when all the time the ever-moving heavens are continually inciting them to activity. The misfits, while they do things unsuited to their celestial patrons, labor in vain, and their superna patrons desert them. The first sort confirms the ancient proverb; ‘The gods help those who are doing something; they are hostile to the lazy’, the second confirms another ancient proverb: ‘Do nothing with Minerva unwilling’.