Apuleius quotes

Apuleius was a Roman writer, philosopher, and rhetorician, best known for his novel "The Golden Ass." His works explored themes of magic, religion, and the mysteries of the ancient world. He remains a key figure in Latin literature and ancient philosophy. Here are 18 of his quotes:

Familiarity breeds contempt, while rarity wins admiration.

Apuleius

But he who knows what insanity is, is sane; whereas insanity can no more be sensible of its own existence, than blindness can see itself.

Apuleius

No word of reverence or piety, no utterance worthy of heaven and of the Gods of heaven, will be heard or believed.

Apuleius

They will no longer love this world around us, this incomparable work of God, this glorious structure which He has built...

Apuleius

Behold me, Lucius; moved by thy prayers, I appear to thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of all things, the mistress of all the elements, the primordial offspring of time, the supreme among Divinities, the queen of departed spirits, the first of the celestials, and the uniform manifestation of the Gods and Goddesses; who govern by my nod the luminous heights of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the ocean, and the anguished silent realms of the shades below: whose one sole divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations.

Apuleius

And thus He will bring back His world to its former aspect, so that the Cosmos will once more be deemed worthy of worship and wondering reverence, and God, the maker and restorer of the mighty fabric, will be adored by the men of that day with unceasing hymns of praise and blessing.

Apuleius

He will call back to the right path those who have gone astray; He will cleanse the world from evil, now washing it away with water-floods, now burning it out with fiercest fire, or again expelling it by war and pestilence.

Apuleius

But when all this has befallen, Asclepius, then the Master and Father, God, the first before all, the maker of that God who first came into being, will look on that which has come to pass, and will stay the disorder by the counterworking of His will, which is the good.

Apuleius

And in that day men will be weary of life, and they will cease to think the universe worthy of reverent wonder and of worship. And so religion, the greatest of all blessings, for there is nothing, nor has been, nor ever shall be, that can be deemed a greater boon, will be threatened with destruction; men will think it a burden, and will come to scorn it.

Apuleius

Darkness will be preferred to light, and death will be thought more profitable than life; no one will raise his eyes to heaven.

Apuleius

For when you have once begun to serve the Goddess, you will then in a still higher degree enjoy the fruit of your liberty.

Apuleius

I approached the confines of death, and having trod on the threshold of Proserpine, I returned therefrom, being borne through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with its brilliant light; and I approached the presence of the Gods beneath, and the Gods of heaven, and stood near, and worshipped them.

Apuleius

Poverty is the discoverer of all the arts.

Apuleius

Venus herself, if she were bold, would not be Venus.

Apuleius

Is Plurimum Haberit, Qui Minimum Desiderabit.

Apuleius

It is with life just as with swimming; that man is the most expert who is the most disengaged from all encumbrances.

Apuleius