“Be not too thick with anybody; your joys will be fewer, and so will pains.”

I do not hate the man, but his vices.

There is no glory in outstripping donkeys.

When your crowd of attendants so loudly applaud you, Pomponius, it is not you, but your banquet, that is eloquent.

He who thinks that the lives of Priam and of Nestor were long is much deceived and mistaken. Life consists not in living, but in enjoying health.

That which prevents disagreeable flies from feeding on your repast, was once the proud tail of a splendid bird.

You admire, Vacerra, only the poets of old and praise only those who are dead. Pardon me, I beseech you, Vacerra, if I think death too high a price to pay for your praise.

See, how the liver is swollen larger than a fat goose! In amazement you will exclaim: Where could this possibly grow?

Live thy life as it were spoil and pluck the joys that fly.

He who writes distichs, wishes, I suppose, to please by brevity. But, tell me, of what avail is their brevity, when there is a whose book full of them?

You puff the poets of other days, The living you deplore. Spare me the accolade: your praise Is not worth dying for.

Be satisfied, and pleased with what thou art, Act cheerfully and well thou allotted part; Enjoy the present hour, be thankful for the past, And neither fear, nor wish, the approaches of the last.

It is easy in adversity to despise death; he has real fortitude who dares to live and be wretched.

From no place can you exclude the fates.

Such are thou and I: but what I am thou canst not be; what thou art any one of the multitude may be.

If fame is to come only after death, I am in no hurry for it.

A man who lives everywhere lives nowhere.

I must be more sensible and realize that at my age, illusions are hardly permitted and they will always destroy me.

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

A tree full of ripened fruits bows down naturally, because of the weight of the fruits and its willingness to make its fruits accessible to others.

To have command is to have all the power you will ever need. To have all the power you will ever need, is to have the world in the palm of you hand.

I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich.

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.

You are so afraid of losing your moral sense that you are not willing to take it through anything more dangerous than a mud-puddle.

A character is a completely fashioned will.