Pliny the Elder quotes - page 3

Envy always implies conscious inferiority wherever it resides. (Pliny the Elder)
Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Better do nothing than do ill. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Nature has given man no better thing than shortness of life. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Accustom yourself to master and overcome things of difficulty; for if you observe, the left hand for want of practice is insignificant, and not adapted to general business; yet it holds the bridle better than the right, from constant use. View quote
Pliny the Elder
We neglect those things which are under our very eyes, and heedless of things within our grasp, pursue those which are afar off. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Among these things, one thing seems certain - that nothing certain exists and that there is nothing more pitiful or more presumptuous than man. View quote
Pliny the Elder
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. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Simple diet is best: for many dishes bring many diseases, and rich sauces are worse than even heaping several meats upon each other. View quote
Pliny the Elder
The most disgraceful cause of the scarcity [of remedies] is that even those who know them do not want to point them out, as if they were going to lose what they pass on to others. (Pliny the Elder)
War should neither be feared nor provoked. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Our youth and manhood are due to our country, but our declining years are due to ourselves. View quote
Pliny the Elder
True happiness consists in being considered deserving of it. View quote
Pliny the Elder
There is, to be sure, no evil without something good. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Contact with [menstrual blood] turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seed in gardens are dried up, the fruit of trees fall off, the edge of steel and the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bees die, even bronze and iron are at once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills the air; to taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison. View quote
Pliny the Elder
God has no power over the past except to cover it with oblivion. View quote
Pliny the Elder
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. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Amid the sufferings of life on earth, suicide is God's best gift to man. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Wine refreshes the stomach, sharpens the appetite, blunts care and sadness, and conduces to slumber. View quote
Pliny the Elder
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. (Pliny the Elder)
The perverted ingenuity of man has given to water the power of intoxicating where wine is not procured. Western nations intoxicate themselves by moistened grain. View quote
Pliny the Elder
The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man in intelligence: it understands the language of its country and obeys orders, remembers duties that it has been taught, is pleased by affection and by marks of honour, nay more it possesses virtues rare even in man, honesty, wisdom, justice, also respect for the stars and reverence for the sun and moon. View quote
Pliny the Elder
We live by reposing trust in each other. View quote
Pliny the Elder
The most valuable discoveries have found their origin in the most trivial accidents. View quote
Pliny the Elder