“Thus the sum Forever is replenished, and we live As mortals by eternal give and take. The nations wax, the nations wane away; In a brief space the generations pass, And like to runners hand the lamp of life One unto other.”

Fear holds dominion over mortality Only because, seeing in land and sky So much the cause whereof no wise they know, Men think Divinities are working there.

There is so much wrong with the world.

What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth.

We notice that the mind grows with the body, and with it decays.

No fact is so simple that it is not harder to believe than to doubt at the first presentation. Equally, there is nothing so mighty or so marvelous that the wonder it evokes does not tend to diminish in time.

Forbear to spew out reason from your mind, but rather ponder everything with keen judgment; and if it seems true, own yourself vanquished, but, if it is false, gird up your loins to fight.

Nothing comes from nothing.

Tears for the mourners who are left behind Peace everlasting for the quiet dead.

There is no place in nature for extinction.

In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.

From the midst of the very fountain of pleasure, something of bitterness arises to vex us in the flower of enjoyment.

Religious questions have often led to wicked and impious actions.

For there is a VOID in things; a truth which it will be useful for you, in reference to many points, to know; and which will prevent you from wandering in doubt.

The sum of all sums is eternity.

Now come: that thou mayst able be to know That minds and the light souls of all that live Have mortal birth and death, I will go on Verses to build meet for thy rule of life, Sought after long, discovered with sweet toil.

The wailing of the newborn infant is mingled with the dirge for the dead.

Mother of Aeneas, pleasure of men and gods.

You cannot become Happy, You can only Be Happy.

Our life must once have end; in vain we fly From following Fate; e’en now, e’en now, we die.

Deprived of pain, and also deprived of danger, able to do what it wants, [Nature] does not need us, nor understands our deserts, and it cannot be angry.

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.

Do we not see all humans unaware Of what they want, and always searching everywhere, And changing place, as if to drop the load they bear?

You doubt God? Well more to the point I credit God with the good sense to doubt me. What is mortality after all but divine doubt flashing over us? For an instant God suspends assent and poof! we disappear.

You are all spirits. It is not that you “have” a spirit.