Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus) quote: "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."

All men carry about them that which is poyson to serpents: for if it be true that is reported, the...
PLINY THE ELDER (CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS)

And that all seas are made calme and still with oile; and therefore the Divers under the water doe ...
PLINY THE ELDER (CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS)

Their best and most wholesome feeding is upon one dish and no more and the same plaine and simple: ...
PLINY THE ELDER (CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS)

Our fathers used to say that the master's eye was the best fertilizer. [Lat., Majores fertilissiu...
PLINY THE ELDER (CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS)

For however often a man may receive an obligation from you, if you refuse a request, all former fav...
PLINY THE YOUNGER (CAIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS)

Joking set aside. [Lat., Omissis jocis.]
PLINY THE YOUNGER (CAIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS)

Besides, as is usually the case, we are much more affected by the words which we hear, for though w...
PLINY THE YOUNGER (CAIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS)

A strong sense of injury often gives point to the expression of our feelings. [Lat., Plerumque do...
PLINY THE YOUNGER (CAIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS)

He has no fault except that he has no fault. [Lat., Nihil peccat, nisi quod nihil peccat.]
PLINY THE YOUNGER (CAIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS)

And as in men's bodies, so in government, that disease is most serious which proceeds from the head...
PLINY THE YOUNGER (CAIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS)

The happier the moment the shorter.
PLINY THE ELDER

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

Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.
PLINY THE ELDER

There is always something new out of Africa.
PLINY THE ELDER

Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great.
PLINY THE ELDER

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
PLINY THE ELDER

Compassion and shame come over one who considers how precarious is the origin of the proudest of liv...
PLINY THE ELDER

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read; and i...
PLINY THE ELDER

Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others.
PLINY THE ELDER

Home is where the heart is.
PLINY THE ELDER

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

The master's eye is the best fertilizer.
PLINY THE ELDER

In these matters the only certainty is that there is nothing certain.
PLINY THE ELDER

In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest...
PLINY THE ELDER

We trace out all the veins of the earth, and yet, living upon it, undermined as it is beneath our fe...
PLINY THE ELDER

Our forefathers regarded as a prodigy the passage of the Alps: first by Hannibal and, more recently,...
PLINY THE ELDER

Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to c...
PLINY THE ELDER

The invention of money opened a new field to human avarice by giving rise to usury and the practice ...
PLINY THE ELDER

The lust of avarice as so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them...
PLINY THE ELDER

To seek after any shape of God, and to assign a form and image to Him, is a proof of man's folly...
PLINY THE ELDER

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to w...
PLINY THE ELDER

Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, b...
PLINY THE ELDER

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

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

What is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in ...
PLINY THE ELDER

To conclude, all other living creatures live orderly and well, after their own kind: we see them flo...
PLINY THE ELDER

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.
PLINY THE ELDER

The lust of avarice has so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess th...
PLINY THE ELDER

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

Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvelous when it comes to our knowledge for the first ti...
PLINY THE ELDER

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read; and i...
PLINY THE ELDER

No mortal man, moreover is wise at all moments.
PLINY THE ELDER

From the end spring new beginnings.
PLINY THE ELDER

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and i...
PLINY THE ELDER

The lust of avarice has so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess the...
PLINY THE ELDER

Nothing which we can imagine about Nature is incredible.
PLINY THE ELDER

No one is wise at all times.
PLINY THE ELDER

In wine, there's truth.
PLINY THE ELDER

With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.
PLINY THE ELDER

The brain is the citadel of sense perception.
PLINY THE ELDER

Man has learned how to challenge both Nature and art to become the incitements to vice! His very cup...
PLINY THE ELDER

Of all wonders, this is among the greatest, that some fresh waters close by the sea spring forth as ...
PLINY THE ELDER

It is better to excel in any single art than to arrive only at mediocrity in several, so moderate sk...
PLINY THE YOUNGER

That indolent but agreeable condition of doing nothing.
PLINY THE YOUNGER

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

There is nothing to write about, you say. Well then, write and let me know just this - that there is...
PLINY THE YOUNGER

His only fault is that he has no fault.
PLINY THE YOUNGER

However often you may have done them a favour, if you once refuse they forget everything except your...
PLINY THE YOUNGER

So we must work at our profession and not make anybody else's idleness an excuse for our own. There ...
PLINY THE YOUNGER

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

Home is where the heart is.
PLINY

An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.
CATO THE ELDER

Speech is the gift of all, but the thought of few.
CATO THE ELDER

If you are ruled by mind you are a king; if by body, a slave.
CATO THE ELDER

Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.
CATO THE ELDER

I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.
CATO THE ELDER

After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.
CATO THE ELDER

It is a difficult matter to argue with the belly since it has no ears.
CATO THE ELDER

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to b...
CATO THE ELDER

The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.
CATO THE ELDER

It is thus with farming, if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work.
CATO THE ELDER

Grasp the subject, the words will follow.
CATO THE ELDER

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fool...
CATO THE ELDER

We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.
CATO THE ELDER

Patience is the greatest of all virtues.
CATO THE ELDER

Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.
CATO THE ELDER

Those who are serious in ridiculous matters will be ridiculous in serious matters.
CATO THE ELDER

Even though work stops, expenses run on.
CATO THE ELDER

An orator is a good man who is skilled in speaking.
CATO THE ELDER

Tis sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity.
CATO THE ELDER

Lighter is the wound foreseen.
CATO THE ELDER

From lightest words sometimes the direst quarrel springs.
CATO THE ELDER

Anger so clouds the mind, that it cannot perceive the truth.
CATO THE ELDER

Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
CATO THE ELDER

Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses.
CATO THE ELDER

Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternatives.
CATO THE ELDER

Carthage must be destroyed.
CATO THE ELDER

It is thus with farming: if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work
CATO THE ELDER

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Life is warfare.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

If you wish to be loved; Love!
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

If you sit in judgment, investigate, if you sit in supreme power, sit in command.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

He is the most powerful who has himself, in his power.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Authority founded on injustice is never of long duration.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The mind is a matter over every kind of fortune; itself acts in both ways, being the cause of its ow...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Other men's sins are before our eyes; our own are behind our backs.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy lif...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the pres...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Time discovered truth.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life -- in firmness of mind and a mastery of ap...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The acquisition of riches has been to many not an end to their miseries, but a change in them: The f...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse our...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Friendship always benefits; love sometimes injures.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Those that are a friend to themselves are sure to be a friend to all.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

As for old age, embrace and love it. It abounds with pleasure if you know how to use it. The gradual...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

There is nothing more despicable than an old man who has no other proof than his age to offer of his...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The courts of kings are full of people, but empty of friends.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

But it is a pretty thing to see what money will do!
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

A great fortune is a great slavery.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The final hour when we cease to exist does not itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Nothing is void of God, his work is everywhere his full of himself.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

He who is brave is free.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Freedom is not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compell...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to ...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no gra...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Courage leads to heaven; fear leads to death.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they a...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Fortune can take away riches, but not courage.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man. It is more powerful than extern...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courag...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Where the fear is, happiness is not.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

We all sorely complain of the shortness of time, and yet have much more than we know what to do with...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It's the admirer and the watcher who provoke us to all the inanities we commit.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Sovereignty over any foreign land is insecure.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is medicine, not scenery, for which a sick man must go searching.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is part of the cure to wish to be cured.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes uns...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Remember that pain has this most excellent quality. If prolonged it cannot be severe, and if severe ...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Pain, scorned by yonder gout-ridden wretch, endured by yonder dyspeptic in the midst of his dainties...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

If you live according to the dictates of nature, you will never be poor; if according to the notions...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Philosophy does not regard pedigree, she received Plato not as a noble, but she made him one.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is often better not to see an insult than to avenge it.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

What once were vices are manners now.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Fidelity purchased with money, money can destroy.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

No one is laughable who laughs at himself.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people in general take to be happ...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which i...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Those who boast of their descent, brag on what they owe to others.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

No one is better born than another, unless they are born with better abilities and a more amiable di...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

He who boasts of his descent, praises the deed of another.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then ...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Disease is not of the body but of the place.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Leisure without literature is death and burial alive.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

There's one blessing only, the source and cornerstone of beatitude -- confidence in self.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

He has committed the crime who profits by it.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

One crime has to be concealed by another.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secre...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Happy the man who can endure the highest and the lowest fortune. He, who has endured such vicissitud...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is the constant fault and inseparable evil quality of ambition, that it never looks behind it.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Economy is too late when you are at the bottom of your purse.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may mot be subdued by discipline.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

The pleasures of the palate deal with us like the Egyptian thieves, who strangle those whom they emb...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life; they are u...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Many shed tears merely for show, and have dry eyes when no one's around to observe them.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Even if it is to be, what end do you serve by running to distress?
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting e...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

He that does good to another does good also to himself.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right ...
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

No one can be despised by another until he has learned to despise himself.
SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER)

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.

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Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus)

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.

Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus)

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