Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door always open tempts no suitor.
MARTIALYou give me nothing during your life, but you promise to provide for me at your death. If you are not a fool, you know what I wish for!
More Martial Quotes
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A fisherman’s walk: three steps and overboard.
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Genuine is the sorrow endured without anyone else knowing about it.
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Can the fish love the fisherman?
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Make it a point not to be over-fascinating.
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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.
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Glory comes too late when we are nought but ashes.
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Fortune gives many too much, but none enough.
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When your crowd of attendants so loudly applaud you, Pomponius, it is not you, but your banquet, that is eloquent.
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To be able to enjoy one’s past life is to live twice.
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The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved in amber, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar.
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Be not too thick with anybody; your joys will be fewer, and so will pains.
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Service cannot be expected from a friend in service; let him be a freeman who wishes to be my master.
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Laugh, if thou art wise.
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Some things are good, some middling, more bad.
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Every epigram should resemble a bee; it should have sting, honey, and brevity.
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He who weighs his burdens, can bear them.
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What’s a wretched man? A man whom no man pleases.
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The swan murmurs sweet strains with a flattering tongue, itself the singer of its own dirge.
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I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; I can only say this, “I do not love thee.”
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In adversity it is easy to despise life; he is truly brave who can endure a wretched life.
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It is as good as second life to be able to look back upon our past life with pleasure.
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It is not he who forms idols in gold or marble that makes them gods, but he who kneels before them.
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There is no living with thee, nor without thee.
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Short is the life of those who possess great accomplishments, and seldom do they reach a good old age. Whatever thou lovest, pray that thou mayest not set too high a value on it.
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You complain, friend Swift, of the length of my epigrams, but you yourself write nothing. Yours are shorter.
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Work divided is in that manner shortened.
MARTIAL