Lucretius Quotations

True piety lies rather in the power to contemplate the universe with a quiet mind.

It is doubtful what fortune to-morrow will bring. [Lat., Posteraque in dubio est fortunam quam vehat aetas.]

The gods and their tranquil abodes appear, which no winds disturb, nor clouds bedew with showers, nor does the white snow, hardened by frost, annoy them; the heaven, always pure, is without clouds, and smiles with pleasant light diffused. [Lat., Apparet divom numen, sedesque quietae; Quas neque concutiunt ventei, nec nubila nimbeis. Aspergunt, neque nex acri concreta pruina Cana cadens violat; semper sine nubibus aether Integer, et large diffuso lumine ridet.]

All things obey fixed laws.

How wretched are the minds of men, and how blind their understandings. [Lat., O miseras hominum menteis! oh, pectora caeca!]

All things keep on in everlasting motion, Out of the infinite come the particles, Speeding above, below, in endless dance.

Tis pleasant to stand on shore and watch others labouring in a stormy sea.

Air, I should explain, becomes wind when it is agitated.

Under what law each thing was created, and how necessary it is for it to continue under this, and how it cannot annul the strong rules that govern its lifetime.

... deprived of pain, and also deprived of danger, able to do what it wants, [Nature] does not need us, nor understands our deserts, and it cannot be angry.