Pliny the Elder Quotations

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.

There is always something new out of Africa.

Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.

In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.

The lust of avarice as so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them than they possess their wealth.

Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work.

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.

No mortal man, moreover is wise at all moments.

It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.

The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.

Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill, the same that are still known as the Quintian Meadows, when the messenger brought him the dictatorship, finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work.

...shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle. Indeed of the whole realm of Nature the sea is in many ways the most harmful to the stomach, with its great variety of dishes and tasty fish.

The graceful tear that streams for others' Man is the weeping animal born to govern all the rest.

We live by reposing trust in each other.

The first (barbers) that entered Italy came out of Sicily and it was in the 454 yeare after the foundation of Rome. Brought in they were by P. Ticinius Mena as Verra doth report for before that time they never cut their hair. The first that was shaven every day was Scipio Africanus, and after cometh Augustus the Emperor who evermore used the razor.

A short death is the sovereign good hap of human life.

Human nature craves novelty.

And that all seas are made calme and still with oile; and therefore the Divers under the water doe spirt and sprinkle it abroad with their mouthes because it dulceth and allaieth the unpleasant nature thereof, and carrieth a light with it.

I think it is the most beautiful and humane thing in the world, so to mingle gravity with pleasure that the one may not sink into melancholy, nor the other rise up into wantonness.

Nature makes us buy her presents at the price of so many sufferings that it is doubtful whether she deserves most the name of parent or stepmother.

We ought to be guarded against every appearance of envy, as a passion that always implies inferiority wherever it resides.

Their best and most wholesome feeding is upon one dish and no more and the same plaine and simple: for surely this hudling of many meats one upon another of divers tastes is pestiferous. But sundrie sauces are more dangerous than that.

It is this earth that, like a kind mother, receives us at our birth, and sustains us when born; it is this alone, of all the elements around us, that is never found an enemy of man.

Many dishes bring many diseases.

As for the garden of mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes our spirits, as the taste stirs up our appetite for meat.

Nothing which we can imagine about Nature is incredible.

In the literary as well as military world, most powerful abilities will often be found concealed under a rustic garb.

Envy always implies conscious inferiority wherever it resides.

I would have a man generous to his country, his neighbors, his kindred, his friends, and most of all his poor friends. Not like some who are most lavish with those who are able to give most of them.

Now, that the sovereign power and deity, whatsoever it is, should have regard of mankind, is a toy and vanity worthy to be laughed at.

Lust is an enemy to the purse, a foe to the person, a canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter of the senses, and finally, a mortal bane to all the body.

The most valuable discoveries have found their origin in the most trivial accidents.

Example is the softest and least invidious way of commanding.

Simple diet is best: for many dishes bring many diseases, and rich sauces are worse than even heaping several meats upon each other.

The brain is the citadel of sense perception.

It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth (In Vino Veritas).

The javelin-snake amphiptere hurls itself from the branches of trees.

Honey comes out of the air At early dawn the leaves of trees are found bedewed with honey. Whether this is the perspiration of the sky or a sort of saliva of the stars, or the moisture of the air purging itself, nevertheless it brings with it the great pleasure of its heavenly nature. It is always of the best quality when it is stored in the best flowers.

The ancients had little doubt about the true shape of the earth: "It's [the world's] shape has the rounded appearance of a perfect sphere. This is shown first of all by the name of 'orb' which is bestowed upon it by the general consent of mankind. ...Our eyesight also confirms this belief, because the firmament presents the aspect of a concave hemisphere equidistant in every direction, which would be impossible in the case of any other figure."

Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations.

It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line.

The master's eye is the best fertilizer.

The human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or little more, are so fashioned that among so many thousands of men there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another.

The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it.

All men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents; and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat.

It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.

There is no book so bad that some good can not be got out of it,

No one is wise at all times.

Human nature is fond of novelty.

It [the earth] alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it.

In wine there is health (In vino sanitas)

....shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle.

A dear bargain is always disagreeable, particularly as it is a reflection upon the buyer's judgment.

Cats too, with what silent stealthiness, with what light steps do they creep up to a bird!

The feasant hens of Colchis, which have two ears as it were consisting of feathers, which they will set up and lay down as they list.

The best kind of wine is that which is most pleasant to him who drinks it.

The only thing man knows instinctively is how to weep.

Nulla dies sine linea - Not a day without a line.

Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.

Among these things, one thing seems certain - that nothing certain exists and that there is nothing more pitiful or more presumptuous than man.

Our civilization depends largely on paper.

His only fault is that he has no fault.

The brain is the highest of the organs in position, and it is protected by the vault of the head; it has no flesh or blood or refuse. It is the citadel of sense-perception.

The desire to know a thing is heightened by its gratification being deferred.

War should neither be feared nor provoked.

We listen with deep interest to what we hear, for to man novelty is ever charming.

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read.

Our youth and manhood are due to our country, but our declining years are due to ourselves.

No book so bad but some part may be of use.

There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald - all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil.

A god cannot procure death for himself, even if he wished it, which, so numerous are the evils of life, has been granted to man as our chief good.

This only is certain, that there is nothing certain.

There is alas no law against incompetency; no striking example is made. They learn by our bodily jeopardy and make experiments until the death of the patients, and the doctor is the only person not punished for murder.

Man naturally yearns for novelty.

Let that which is wanting in income be supplied by economy.

As touching peaches in general, the very name in Latine whereby they are called Persica, doth evidently show that they were brought out of Persia first.

When collapse is imminent, the little rodents flee.

Chance is a second master.

As in our lives so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most wise, so to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into licentiousness.

Suicide is a privilege of man which deity does not possess.

Amid the sufferings of life on earth, suicide is God's best gift to man.

Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?

Hope is a working-man's dream.

Sure, football is a silly game. But have you seen what else is on television?

The happier the moment the shorter.

In time of sickness the soul collects itself anew.

... many other means there be, that promise the foreknowledge of things to come: besides the raising up and conjuring of ghosts departed, the conference also with familiars and spirits infernal. And all these were found out in our days, to be no better than vanities and false illusions...

The enjoyments of this life are not equal to its evils.

Home is where the heart is.

Why do we believe that in all matters the odd numbers are more powerful?

Compassion and shame come over one who considers how precarious is the origin of the proudest of living beings: often the smell of a lately extinguished lamp is enough to cause a miscarriage. And to think that from such a frail beginning a tyrant or butcher may be born! You who trust in your physical strength, who embrace the gifts of fortune and consider yourself not their ward but their son, you who have a domineering spirit, you who consider yourself a god as soon as success swells your breast, think how little could have destroyed you!

Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.

True happiness consists in being considered deserving of it.

God has no power over the past except to cover it with oblivion.

To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.

Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvelous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked up on as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?

How many things... are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?