Martial Quotes

Those they praise, but they read the others.

You importune me, Tucca, to present you with my books. I shall not do so; for you want to sell, not to read, them.

You may envy every one, but no one envies you.

They let out on hire their passions and eloquence. [Referring to lawyers.]

Be cheerful, if you are wise.

A good man doubles the length of his existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past existence is to live twice.

Hidden evils are most dreaded.

I do not hate the man, but his vices.

Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.

The virtuous man is never a novice in worldly things.

Neither fear your death's day nor long for it.

To-morrow I will live, the fool does say; To-day itself's too late, the wise lived yesterday.

To the ashes of the dead glory comes too late.

This I ask, is it not madness to kill thyself in order to escape death? [Lat., Hic rogo non furor est ne moriare mori?]

There is no glory in otustripping donkeys.

Make it a point not to be over-fascinating.

Of no day can the retrospect cause pain to a good man.

You puff the poets of other days, The living you deplore. Spare me the accolade: your praise Is not worth dying for.

I have not hated the man, but his faults.

Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.

The shameless Chloe placed on the tombs of her seven husbands the inscription, "The work of Chloe." How could she have expressed herself more plainly?

You complain, friend Swift, of the length of my epigrams, but you yourself write nothing. Yours are shorter.

A novice always behaves with propriety.

Life consists not merely in existing, but in enjoying health.

Wish to be what you are, and wish for no other position.

I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; I can only say this, "I do not love thee."

He truly sorrows who sorrows unseen.

It is folly to waste labour about trifles.

The world is blessed most by men who do things, and not by those who merely talk about them. -James Oliver 'Tomorrow I will live,' the fool does say; tomorrow itself is late; the wise live yesterday.

For life is only life when blessed with health.

To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.

Laugh, if thou art wise.

Some are good, some are middling, the most are bad.

Such are thou and I: but what I am thou canst not be; what thou art any one of the multitude may be.

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.

Tis easy to write epigrams nicely, but to write a book is hard.

Be not too thick with anybody; your joys will be fewer, and so will pains.

If I remember right, Aelia, you had four teeth; a cough displaced two, another two more. You can now cough without anxiety all the day long. A third cough can find nothing to do in your mouth.

Glory comes too late when we are nought but ashes.

No man is quick enough to enjoy life.

A jar of wine so priceless did not deserve to die. and Never think of leaving perfume or wines to your heir. Administer these youself and let him have the money.

You'll get no laurel crown for outrunning a burrow.

He who thinks that the lives of Priam and of Nestor were long is much deceived and mistaken. Life consists not in living, but in enjoying health.

Our days pass by, and are scored against us.

For wealth's now given to none but to the rich.

It is not, believe me, the act of a wise man to say, "I will live." To-morrow's life is too late; live to-day.

The present joys of life we doubly taste, By looking back with pleasure to the past.

I know all that better than my own name.

Epigrams need no crier, but are content with their own tongue.

No hero to me is the man who, by easy shedding of his blood, purchases fame: my hero is he who, without death, can win praise.