Pliny The Elder Quotes & Sayings

As land is improved by sowing it with various seeds, so is the mind by exercising it with different studies. — Pliny The Elder

The only thing man knows instinctively is how to weep. — Pliny The Elder

The leading distinction of magnets is sex ... The kind that is found in Troas is black, and of the female sex, and consequently destitute of attractive power. — Pliny The Elder

Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen. — Pliny The Elder

In these matters, the only certainty is that nothing is certain — 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. — Pliny The Elder

The most valuable discoveries have found their origin in the most trivial accidents. — Pliny The Elder

Our youth and manhood are due to our country, but our declining years are due to ourselves. — 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. — Pliny The Elder

The happier the moment the shorter. — Pliny The Elder

In time of sickness the soul collects itself anew. — Pliny The Elder

Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration. — Pliny The Elder

Compassion and shame come over one who considers how precarious is the origin of the proudest of living beings: often the smell of a lately extinguished lamp is enough to cause a miscarriage. And to think that from such a frail beginning a tyrant or butcher may be born! You who trust in your physical strength, who embrace the gifts of fortune and consider yourself not their ward but their son, you who have a domineering spirit, you who consider yourself a god as soon as success swells your breast, think how little could have destroyed you! — Pliny The Elder

I think it is the most beautiful and humane thing in the world, so to mingle gravity with pleasure that the one may not sink into melancholy, nor the other rise up into wantonness. — Pliny The Elder

The brain is the citadel of sense perception. — Pliny The Elder

His only fault is that he has no fault. — Pliny The Elder

The great business of man is to improve his mind, and govern his manners; all other projects and pursuits, whether in our power to compass or not, are only amusements. — Pliny The Elder

It is best not to be born or to die as soon as possible. — Pliny The Elder

There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald - all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil. — 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. — Pliny The Elder

Nature has given man no better thing than shortness of life. — Pliny The Elder

Nothing which we can imagine about Nature is incredible. — Pliny The Elder

From the end spring new beginnings. — Pliny The Elder

It [the earth] alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it. — Pliny The Elder

There is always something new out of Africa. — Pliny The Elder

The desire to know a thing is heightened by its gratification being deferred. — Pliny The Elder

In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment. — Pliny The Elder

Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others. — Pliny The Elder

We ought to be guarded against every appearance of envy, as a passion that always implies inferiority wherever it resides. — Pliny The Elder

As touching peaches in general, the very name in Latine whereby they are called Persica, doth evidently show that they were brought out of Persia first. — 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. — Pliny The Elder

The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all too evil designs. — Pliny The Elder

War should neither be feared nor provoked. — Pliny The Elder

No one is wise at all times. — Pliny The Elder

No book so bad but some part may be of use. — Pliny The Elder

The feasant hens of Colchis, which have two ears as it were consisting of feathers, which they will set up and lay down as they list. — Pliny The Elder

As for the garden of mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes our spirits, as the taste stirs up our appetite for meat. — Pliny The Elder

Made up of the glories of the most precious gems, to describe them is a matter of inexpressible difficulty. For there is amongst them the gentler fire of the ruby, there is the rich purple of the amethyst, there is the sea-green of the emerald, and all shining together in an indescribable union. Others, by an excessive heightening of their hues equal all the colours of the painter, others the flame of burning brimstone, or of a fire quickened by oil. — 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. — Pliny The Elder

The enjoyments of this life are not equal to its evils. — Pliny The Elder

Lust is an enemy to the purse, a foe to the person, a canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter of the senses, and finally, a mortal bane to all the body. — Pliny The Elder

Example is the softest and least invidious way of commanding. — Pliny The Elder

It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs. — Pliny The Elder

Amid the sufferings of life on earth, suicide is God's best gift to man. — Pliny The Elder

In wine, there's truth. — Pliny The Elder

A short death is the sovereign good hap of human life. — Pliny The Elder

The first (barbers) that entered Italy came out of Sicily and it was in the 454 yeare after the foundation of Rome. Brought in they were by P. Ticinius Mena as Verra doth report for before that time they never cut their hair. The first that was shaven every day was Scipio Africanus, and after cometh Augustus the Emperor who evermore used the razor. — Pliny The Elder

Shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle. Indeed of the whole realm of Nature the sea is in many ways the most harmful to the stomach, with its great variety of dishes and tasty fish. — Pliny The Elder

With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man. — Pliny The Elder

Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures. — 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. — Pliny The Elder

God has no power over the past except to cover it with oblivion. — Pliny The Elder

Out of Africa, there is always something new. — Pliny The Elder

No mortal man, moreover is wise at all moments. — 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

The master's eye is the best fertilizer. — Pliny The Elder

The best kind of wine is that which is most pleasant to him who drinks it. — Pliny The Elder

Nothing is more useful than wine for strengthening the body and also more detrimental to our pleasure if moderation be lacking. — Pliny The Elder

Nothing is so unequal as equality. — Pliny The Elder

A dear bargain is always disagreeable, particularly as it is a reflection upon the buyer's judgment. — Pliny The Elder

In wine there is health (In vino sanitas) — Pliny The Elder

The ancients had little doubt about the true shape of the earth: "It's [the world's] shape has the rounded appearance of a perfect sphere. This is shown first of all by the name of 'orb' which is bestowed upon it by the general consent of mankind ... Our eyesight also confirms this belief, because the firmament presents the aspect of a concave hemisphere equidistant in every direction, which would be impossible in the case of any other figure." — Pliny The Elder

The lust of avarice as so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them than they possess their wealth. — Pliny The Elder

Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations. — Pliny The Elder

There is, to be sure, no evil without something good. — Pliny The Elder

Human nature is fond of novelty. — Pliny The Elder

When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it. — Pliny The Elder

Many other means there be, that promise the foreknowledge of things to come: besides the raising up and conjuring of ghosts departed, the conference also with familiars and spirits infernal. And all these were found out in our days, to be no better than vanities and false illusions ... — Pliny The Elder

Why do we believe that in all matters the odd numbers are more powerful? — Pliny The Elder

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man. — 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

Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour. — Pliny The Elder

To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity. — Pliny The Elder

It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth (In Vino Veritas). — Pliny The Elder

Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill, the same that are still known as the Quintian Meadows, when the messenger brought him the dictatorship, finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work. — Pliny The Elder

I would have a man generous to his country, his neighbors, his kindred, his friends, and most of all his poor friends. Not like some who are most lavish with those who are able to give most of them. — Pliny The Elder

This only is certain, that there is nothing certain. — Pliny The Elder

Man naturally yearns for novelty. — Pliny The Elder

True happiness consists in being considered deserving of it. — Pliny The Elder

As in our lives so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most wise, so to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into licentiousness. — Pliny The Elder

Wine refreshes the stomach, sharpens the appetite, blunts care and sadness, and conduces to slumber. — 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. — Pliny The Elder

Most men are afraid of a bad name, but few fear their consciences. — Pliny The Elder

There is no book so bad that some good can not be got out of it, — Pliny The Elder

Wine takes away reason, engenders insanity, leads to thousands of crimes, and imposes such an enormous expense on nations. — Pliny The Elder

Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvelous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked up on as quite impossible until they have been actually effected? — Pliny The Elder

No man's abilities are so remarkably shining as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity. — Pliny The Elder

In the literary as well as military world, most powerful abilities will often be found concealed under a rustic garb. — Pliny The Elder

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach. — Pliny The Elder

It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained. — Pliny The Elder

Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual? — Pliny The Elder

The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it. — Pliny The Elder

We live by reposing trust in each other. — Pliny The Elder

It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it. — Pliny The Elder

The best plan is to profit by the folly of others. — Pliny The Elder

Nulla dies sine linea - Not a day without a line. — Pliny The Elder

Suicide is a privilege of man which deity does not possess. — Pliny The Elder

It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line. — Pliny The Elder

And that all seas are made calme and still with oile; and therefore the Divers under the water doe spirt and sprinkle it abroad with their mouthes because it dulceth and allaieth the unpleasant nature thereof, and carrieth a light with it. — Pliny The Elder

There is an herb named in Latine Convolvulus (i.e. with wind), growing among shrubs and bushes, with carrieth a flower not unlike to this Lilly, save that it yeeldeth no smell nor hath those chives within; for whitenesse they resemble one another very much, as if Nature in making this floure were a learning and trying her skill how to frame the Lilly indeed. — Pliny The Elder