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 ELDERWe listen with deep interest to what we hear, for to man novelty is ever charming.
More Pliny the Elder Quotes
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Nature has given man no better thing than shortness of life.
PLINY THE ELDER -
True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read.
PLINY THE ELDER -
War should neither be feared nor provoked.
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Man naturally yearns for novelty.
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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 -
The enjoyments of this life are not equal to its evils.
PLINY THE ELDER -
It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.
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Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.
PLINY THE ELDER -
It [the earth] alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it.
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Our civilization depends largely on paper.
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The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.
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.
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Hope is a working-man’s dream.
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Wine maketh the band quivering, the eye watery, the night unquiet, lewd dreams, a stinking breath in the morning, and an utter forgetfulness of all things.
PLINY THE ELDER -
But with man, — by Hercules! most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.
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No man’s abilities are so remarkably shining as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity.
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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 -
In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.
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Our youth and manhood are due to our country, but our declining years are due to ourselves.
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True happiness consists in being considered deserving of it.
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Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.
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Chance is a second master.
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The brain is the highest of the organs in position, and it is protected by the vault of the head; it has no flesh or blood or refuse. It is the citadel of sense-perception.
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We neglect those things which are under our very eyes, and heedless of things within our grasp, pursue those which are afar off.
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It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.
PLINY THE ELDER -
Truth comes out in wine.
PLINY THE ELDER