Aulus Persius Flaccus Quotes & Sayings

Retire within thyself, and thou will discover how small a stock is there.
[Lat., Tecum habita, et noris quam sit tibi curta supellex.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Lives there the man with soul so dead as to disown the wish to merit the people's applause, and having uttered words worthy to be kept in cedar oil to latest times, to leave behind him rhymes that dread neither herrings nor frankincense.
[Lat., An erit, qui velle recuset
Os populi meruisse? et cedro digna locutus
Linquere, nec scombros metuentia carmina nec thus.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Things fit only to give weight to smoke. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Thou art moist and soft clay; thou must instantly be shaped by the glowing wheel.
[Lat., Udum et molle lutum es: nunc, nunc properandus et acri
Fingendus sine fine rota.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Live according to your income. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

The man who wishes to bend me with his tale of woe must shed true tears - not tears that have been got ready overnight. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Let them (the wicked) see the beauty of virtue, and pine at having forsaken her.
[Lat., Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicta.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

O natal star, thou producest twins of widely different character.
[Lat., Geminos, horoscope, varo Producis genio.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Is then thy knowledge of no value, unless another know that thou possessest that knowledge? — Aulus Persius Flaccus

That no one, no one at all, should try to search into himself! But the wallet of the person in front is carefully kept in view.
[Lat., Ut nemo in sese tentat descendere, nemo!
Sed praecedenti spectatur mantica tergo.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Each man has his fancy. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Bad advice is often most fatal to the adviser. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

For Yesterday was once To-morrow. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

It is pleasing to be pointed at with the finger and to have it said, "There goes the man."
[Lat., At pulchrum est digito monstrari et dicier his est.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

You pray for good health and a body that will be strong in old age. Good-but your rich foods block the gods' answer and tie Jupiter's hands. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Our life is our own to-day, to-morrow you will be dust, a shade, and a tale that is told. Live mindful of death; the hour flies. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Hunger is the teacher of the arts and the bestower of invention. -Magister artis ingenique largitor Venter — Aulus Persius Flaccus

He who conquers, endures. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Oh, the cares of men! how much emptiness there is in human concerns! — Aulus Persius Flaccus

I know you even under the skin. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

The stomach is the teacher of the arts and the dispenser of invention. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Confined to common life thy numbers flow,
And neither soar too high nor sink too low;
There strength and ease in graceful union meet,
Though polished, subtle, and though poignant, sweet;
Yet powerful to abash the from of crime
And crimson error's cheek with sportive rhyme.
[Lat., Verba togae sequeris, junctura callidus acri,
Ore teres modico, pallentes radere mores
Doctus, et ingenuo culpam defigere ludo.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Tecum habita, et noris quam sit tibi curta suppellex.

Retire within thyself, and thou will discover how small a stock is there. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Nothing can be born of nothing; nothing can be resolved into nothing. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Learn whom God has ordered you to be, and in what part of human affairs you have been placed. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Check disease in its approach. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

The belly is the giver of genius. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

The belly (i.e. necessity) is the teacher of art and the liberal bestower of wit. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

But when to-morrow comes, yesterday's morrow will have been already spent: and lo! a fresh morrow will be for ever making away with our years, each just beyond our grasp. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Indulge, and to thy genius freely give,
For not to live at ease is not to live. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Quantum est in rebus inane! How much folly there is in human affairs. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Please not thyself the flattering crowd to hear;
'Tis fulsome stuff, to please thy itching ear.
Survey thy soul, not what thou does appear,
But what thou art. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Your knowing a thing is nothing, unless another knows you know it. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

You follow words of the toga (language of the cultivated class).
[Lat., Verba togae sequeris.] — Aulus Persius Flaccus