Aulus 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

A man should be religious, not superstitious. — Aulus Gellius

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

Many things happen between the cup and the upper lip. — Aulus Gellius

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

Truth is the daughter of time. — Aulus Gellius

The two soldiers laughed, and even the king smiled. Reinforcing Costis's suspicion that Eugenides had been responsible for Ornon's lost sheep, Boagus asked, "Do you still baa like a lamb when he walks into the room?"
Eugenides shook his head. "Ornon took me aside first thing after the coronation and explained that it would be against my dignity."
Aulus and Boagus stared. Eugenides expression was bland.
"He said that?" Aulus asked.
"He did," the king confirmed.
"What did you say?" Boagus asked suspiciously.
"I promised to bark like a sheepdog instead."
The Eddisians chuckled again.
"You don't, though?" Aulus had to ask.
The king eyed him with disgust. "Give me some credit," He said, and when Aulus was visibly relieved, added, "Not when anybody else can hear me. — Megan Whalen Turner

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

This is one of their [the Christians'] rules. Let no man that is learned, wise, or prudent come among us: but if they be unlearned, or a child, or an idiot, let him freely come. So they openly declare that none but the ignorant, and those devoid of understanding, slaves, women, and children, are fit disciples for the God they worship. — Aulus Cornelius Celsus

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

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

He who conquers, endures. — Aulus Persius Flaccus

Live in rooms full of light. Avoid heavy food. Be moderate in the drinking of wine. Take massage, baths, exercise, and gymnastics. Fight insomnia with gentle rocking or the sound of running water. Change surroundings and take long journeys. Strictly avoid frightening ideas. Indulge in cheerful conversation and amusements. Listen to music. — Aulus Cornelius Celsus

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

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

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

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

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

The spirits increase, vigor grows through a wound. — Aulus Gellius

Each man has his fancy. — 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

I do not buy repentance at so heavy a cost as a thousand drachmae. — Aulus Gellius

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

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

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

I see the beard and cloak, but I don't yet see a philosopher. — Aulus Gellius

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

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

Live in rooms full of light. — Aulus Cornelius Celsus

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

Another one of the old poets, whose name has escaped my memory at present, called Truth the daughter of Time. — Aulus Gellius

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

Check disease in its approach. — 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

Nothing can be born of nothing; nothing can be resolved into nothing. — 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