Plautus Famous Quotes & Sayings

Because those, who twit others with their faults, should look at home. — Plautus

I love truth and wish to have it always spoken to me: I hate a liar.
[Lat., Ego verum amo, verum volo mihi dici; mendacem odi.] — Plautus

To make any gain some outlay is necessary. — Plautus

This is the great evil in wine, it first seizes the feet; it is a cunning wrestler.
[Lat., Magnum hoc vitium vino est,
Pedes captat primum; luctator dolosu est.] — Plautus

Always bring money along with your complaints. — Plautus

No man will be respected by others who is despised by his own relatives. — Plautus

To blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.
[Lat., Simul flare sorbereque haud facile
Est: ego hic esse et illic simul, haud potui.] — Plautus

Where there are sheep, the wolves are never very far away. — Plautus

Little do you know what a gloriously uncertain thing law is. — Plautus

I've seen many men avoid the region of good advice before they were really near it. — Plautus

The poor man who enters into a partnership with one who is rich makes a risky venture. — Plautus

Keep what you have got; the known evil is best.
[Lat., Habeas ut nactus; nota mala res optima est.] — Plautus

Persevere in virtue and diligence. — Plautus

I am undone! I have smashed the waggon. [I have ruined all.] — Plautus

If you spend a thing you can not have it.
[Lat., Non tibi illud apparere si sumas potest.] — Plautus

Patience is the best remedy for every trouble. — Plautus

He who accuses another of wrong should look well into his own conduct. — Plautus

That least pleases us which is most urged on us. — Plautus

He is a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need. — Plautus

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within. — Plautus

It is a bitter disappointment when you have sown benefits, to reap injuries. — Plautus

One eye-witness weighs more than ten hearsays - Seeing is believing all the world over. — Plautus

Conquered, we conquer. — Plautus

Know this, that troubles come swifter than the things we desire. — Plautus

Let a man who wants to find abundance of employment procure a woman and a ship: for no two things do produce more trouble if you begin to equip them; neither are these two things ever equipped enough. — Plautus

He is happy in his wisdom who has learned at another's expense. — Plautus

Flame is very near to smoke. — Plautus

If I can only keep my good name, I shall have riches enough. — Plautus

Let not your expenditure exceed your income. — Plautus

I esteem death a trifle, if not caused by guilt. — Plautus

That wife is an enemy to her husband who is given in marriage against her will. — Plautus

To an honest man, it is an honor to have remembered his duty. — Plautus

It is good to love in a moderate degree; but it is not good to love to distraction. — Plautus

There is indeed a God that hears and sees whate'er we do.
[Lat., Est profecto deus, qui, quae nos gerimus, auditque et videt.] — Plautus

Nothing is more annoying than a tardy friend.
[Lat., Tardo amico nihil est quidquam iniquius.] — Plautus

You must spend money to make money. — Plautus

It is our human lot, it is heaven's will, that sorrow follow joy. — Plautus

Arrogance is the outgrowth of prosperity. — Plautus

A word to the wise is sufficient — Plautus

The fool too late, his substance eaten up, reckons the cost. — Plautus

A woman finds it much easier to do ill than well.
[Lat., Mulieri nimio male facere melius est onus, quam bene.] — Plautus

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words. — Plautus

He who falls in love meets a worse fate than he who leaps from a rock. — Plautus

He gains wisdom in a happy way, who gains it by another's experience.
[Lat., Feliciter sapit qui alieno periculo sapit.] — Plautus

There are games in which it is better to lose than win. — Plautus

When you fly from temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. Where there's smoke there's fire. — Plautus

To ask that which is unjust at the hands of the just, is an injustice in itself; to expect that which is just from the unjust, is simple folly. — Plautus

The sea is certainly common to all. — Plautus

He who tries to protect himself from deception is often cheated, even when most on his guard. — Plautus

Your wealth is where your friends are. — Plautus

Poverty is a thorough instructress in all the arts.
[Lat., Paupertas ... omnes artes perdocet.] — Plautus

Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need. — Plautus

Who wishes to give himself an abundance of business let him equip these two things, a ship and a woman. For no two things involve more business, if you have begun to fit them out. Nor are these two things ever sufficiently adorned, nor is any excess of adornment enough for them.
[Lat., Negotii sibi qui volet vim parare,
Navem et mulierem, haec duo comparato.
Nam nullae magis res duae plus negotii
Habent, forte si occeperis exornare.
Neque unquam satis hae duae res ornantur,
Neque eis ulla ornandi satis satietas est.] — Plautus

It is sheer folly to take unwilling hounds to the chase. — Plautus

The woman who has the best perfume is she who has none. — Plautus

I have lost my oil and my labor. (Labored in vain.)
[Lat., Oleum et operam perdidi.] — Plautus

Ah yes, the gods use us mortals as footballs! — Plautus

You drown him by your talk. — Plautus

The gods give that man some profit to whom they are propitious.
[Lat., Cui homini dii propitii sunt aliquid objiciunt lucri.] — Plautus

It does not matter a feather whether a man be supported by patron or client, if he himself wants courage.
[Lat., Animus tamen omnia vincit.
Ille etiam vires corpus habere facit.] — Plautus

Enemies carry a report in form different from the original. — Plautus

Out of many evils the evil which is least is the least of evils.
[Lat., E malis multis, malum, quod minimum est, id minimum est malum.] — Plautus

To snatch the worm from the trap. — Plautus

Virtue is the highest reward. Virtue truly goes before all things. Liberty, safety, life, property, parents, country, and children are protected and preserved. Virtue has all things in herself; he who has virtue has all things that are good attending him.
[Lat., Virtus praemium est optimum.
Virtus omnibus rebus anteit profecto.
Libertas, salus, vita, res, parentes,
Patria et prognati tutantur, servantur;
Virtus omnia in se habet; omnia assunt bona, quem penes est vertus.] — Plautus

Do you never look at yourself when you abuse another person? — Plautus

If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you. — Plautus

To waste one's breath; to pump into a sieve. — Plautus

Fire is next akin to smoke. — Plautus

Courage is what preserves our liberty, safety, life, and our homes and parents, our country and children. Courage comprises all things. — Plautus

Smooth words in place of gifts.
[Lat., Dicta docta pro datis.] — Plautus

He that would eat the nut must crack the shell. — Plautus

Unexpected results are the rule rather than the exception. — Plautus

There's no such thing, you know, as picking out the best woman: it's only a question of comparative badness, brother. — Plautus

No man is wise enough by himself. — Plautus

Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good will should all be hanged
the former by their tongues, the latter by the ears. — Plautus

If you speak insults you will hear them also. — Plautus

Ut saepe summa ingenia in occulto latent (How often the greatest talents are shrouded in obscurity) — Plautus

Tattletales, and those who listen to their slander, by my good will, should all be hanged. The former by their tongues, the latter by their ears.
[Lat., Homines qui gestant, quique auscultant crimina, si meo arbitratu liceat, omnes pendeant gestores linguis, auditores auribus.] — Plautus

Property is unstable, and youth perishes in a moment. Life itself is held in the grinning fangs of Death, Yet men delay to obtain release from the world. Alas, the conduct of mankind is surprising. — Plautus