Quotes by Roman Authors - Page 18

To the divine providence it has seemed good to prepare in the world to come for the righteous good things, which the unrighteous shall not enjoy; and for the wicked evil things, by which the good shall not be tormented.
Augustine of Hippo
There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.
Cicero
Finally, everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things—eloquence cannot, nor the liberal studies—since the mind, when distracted, takes in nothing very deeply, but rejects everything that is, as it were, crammed into it. There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there is nothing that is harder to learn.
Seneca
I am not a ‘wise man,’ nor . . . shall I ever be. And so require not from me that I should be equal to the best, but that I should be better than the wicked. It is enough for me if every day I reduce the number of my vices, and blame my mistakes.
Seneca
The brain is the citadel of sense perception.
Pliny the Elder
fear in sooth holds so in check all mortals, because they see many operations go on in earth and heaven, the causes of which they can in no way understand, believing them therefore to be done by power divine.
Titus Lucretius Carus
The trip doesn’t exist that can set you beyond the reach of cravings, fits of temper, or fears … so long as you carry the sources of your troubles about with you, those troubles will continue to harass and plague you wherever you wander on land or on sea. Does it surprise you that running away doesn’t do you any good? The things you’re running away from are with you all the time.
Seneca
Only a few prefer liberty- the majority seek nothing more than fair masters.
Sallust
First, however, I must deal with the matter of Jesus, the so-called savior, who not long ago taught new doctrines and was thought to be a son of God. This savior, I shall attempt to show, deceived many and caused them to accept a form of belief harmful to the well-being of mankind. Taking its root in the lower classes, the religion continues to spread among the vulgar: nay, one can even say it spreads because of its vulgarity and the illiteracy of its adherents. And while there are a few moderate, reasonable, and intelligent people who interpret its beliefs allegorically, yet it thrives in its purer form among the ignorant.
Celsus
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. —GALATIANS 6: 7
Paul the Apostle
For it is good to cleave to God, and to put our hopes in the Lord, so that, when we have exchanged this poor life for the kingdom of heaven, we may cry aloud: 'Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.' Assuredly, when we have found such wealth in heaven, we may well grieve to have sought after poor passing pleasures here on earth.
Jerome
Everyone is in a small way the image of God.
Marcus Manilius
To like and dislike the same things this is what makes a solid friendship.
Sallust
They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger… they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor… They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.
Tacitus
Death's brother, sleep.
Virgil
The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.
Ovid
They are able because they think they are able.
Virgil
the dank night is sweeping down from the skyand the setting stars incline our heads to sleep.
Virgil
Christ has made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue.
Saint Agnes
If we live good lives the times are also good. As we are such are the times.
Saint Augustine
The problem, Paulinus, is not that we have a short life, but that we waste time. Life is long and there is enough of it for satisfying personal accomplishments if we use our hours well. But when time is squandered in the pursuit of pleasure or in vain idleness, when it is spent with no real purpose, the finality of death fast approaches and it is only then, when we are forced to, that we, at last, take a good hard look at how we have spent our life- just as we become aware that it is ending. Thus the time we are given is not brief, but we make it so. We do not lack time; on the contrary, there is so much of it that we waste an awful lot
Seneca the elder
There are wolves within, and there are sheep without.
Augustine of Hippo
Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
Titus Lucretius Carus
A liar is not believed even though he tell the truth.
Cicero
Early impressions are hard to eradicate from the mind. When once wool has been dyed purple, who can restore it to its previous whiteness?
Jerome
We set up harsh and unkind rules against ourselves. No one is born without faults. That man is best who has fewest.
Horace
It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.
Cicero
Cease to inquire what the future has in store and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
Horace
If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
Seneca
We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth and for the great benefits of our being our life health and reason we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca
There is no grief which time does not lessen and soften.
Cicero
For out of the perverse will came lust, and the service of lust ended in habit, and habit, not resisted, became necessity.
Augustine of Hippo
As a rule what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see.
Julius Caesar
Man is his own worst enemy.
Cicero
Regain your senses, call yourself back, and once again wake up. Now that you realize that only dreams were troubling you, view this 'reality' as you view your dreams.
Marcus Aurelius
Without a purpose nothing should be done.
Marcus Aurelius
I hate and love. And why, perhaps you’ll ask.I don’t know: but I feel, and I’m tormented.
Catullus
If anyone says that the best life of all is to sail the sea, and then adds that I must not sail upon a sea where shipwrecks are a common occurrence and there are often sudden storms that sweep the helmsman in an adverse direction, I conclude that this man, although he lauds navigation, really forbids me to launch my ship.
Seneca
He who has great power should use it lightly.
Seneca
His only fault is that he has no fault.
Pliny
Men are seldom blessed with good fortune and good sense at the same time.
Livy
The best ideas are common property
Seneca
If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.
Tacitus
If nature has composed the human body so that in its proportions the seperate individual elements answer to the total form, then the Ancients seem to have had reason to decide that bringing their creations to full completion likewise required a correspondence bewteen the measure of individual elements and the appearance of the work as a whole.
Vitruvius
So many men so many opinions.
Terence
It is a ridiculous thing for a man not to fly from his own badness, which is indeed possible, but to fly from other men's badness, which is impossible.
Marcus Aurelius
We Are Interested In Others When They Are Interested In Us
Publilius Syrus
What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.
Seneca
Be satisfied and pleased with what thou art Act cheerfully and well thou allotted part Enjoy the present hour be thankful for the past And neither fear nor wish the approaches of the last.
Martial
Love sometimes injures. Friendship always benefits, After friendship is formed you must trust, but before that you must judge.
Seneca
Men learn while they teach.
Seneca
striid andWthdraw into yourself. Our master-reason asks no more than to act justly, and thereby to achieve calm.
Marcus Aurelius
... the earthly city glories in itself, the Heavenly City glories in the Lord.
Augustine of Hippo
One eye-witness is of more weight than ten hearsays.
Plautus
Happy is the man who ventures boldly to defend what he holds dear.
Ovid
I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know.
Cicero
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.
Publilius Syrus
To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca
Peace is the first thing the angels sang. Peace is the mark of the sons of God. Peace is the nurse of love. Peace is the mother of unity. Peace is the rest of blessed souls. Peace is the dwelling place of eternity.
Leo the Great
Visible objects therefore do not perish utterly, since nature repairs one thing from another and allows nothing to be born without the aid of another's death.
Titus Lucretius Carus