Pliny the Elder quotes - page 4

The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man in intelligence: it understands the language of its country and obeys orders, remembers duties that it has been taught, is pleased by affection and by marks of honour, nay more it possesses virtues rare even in man, honesty, wisdom, justice, also respect for the stars and reverence for the sun and moon. (Pliny the Elder)
We live by reposing trust in each other. View quote
Pliny the Elder
The most valuable discoveries have found their origin in the most trivial accidents. View quote
Pliny the Elder
As in our lives so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most wise, so to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into licentiousness. View quote
Pliny the Elder
We ought to be guarded against every appearance of envy, as a passion that always implies inferiority wherever it resides. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Chance is a second master. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Cats too, with what silent stealthiness, with what light steps do they creep up to a bird! View quote
Pliny the Elder
Our civilization depends largely on paper. View quote
Pliny the Elder
A god cannot procure death for himself, even if he wished it, which, so numerous are the evils of life, has been granted to man as our chief good. View quote
Pliny the Elder
The enjoyments of this life are not equal to its evils. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Wine takes away reason, engenders insanity, leads to thousands of crimes, and imposes such an enormous expense on nations. (Pliny the Elder)
In the literary as well as military world, most powerful abilities will often be found concealed under a rustic garb. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Example is the softest and least invidious way of commanding. View quote
Pliny the Elder
The happier the moment the shorter. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Nothing which we can imagine about Nature is incredible. View quote
Pliny the Elder
It [the earth] alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it. View quote
Pliny the Elder
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. View quote
Pliny the Elder
There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald - all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Honey comes out of the air At early dawn the leaves of trees are found bedewed with honey. Whether this is the perspiration of the sky or a sort of saliva of the stars, or the moisture of the air purging itself, nevertheless it brings with it the great pleasure of its heavenly nature. It is always of the best quality when it is stored in the best flowers. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Their best and most wholesome feeding is upon one dish and no more and the same plaine and simple: for surely this hudling of many meats one upon another of divers tastes is pestiferous. But sundrie sauces are more dangerous than that. View quote
Pliny the Elder
Many other means there be, that promise the foreknowledge of things to come: besides the raising up and conjuring of ghosts departed, the conference also with familiars and spirits infernal. And all these were found out in our days, to be no better than vanities and false illusions. (Pliny the Elder)
The only certainty is that nothing is certain. (Fuller version: This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality, so that among these things but one thing is in the least certain-that nothing certain exists, and that nothing is more pitiable, or more presnmptuous, than man! In Latin: Quae singula inprovidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista vel certu(m) sit nihil esse certi nec quicquam miserius homine aut superbius. Some sources have "certu", others "certum".) View quote
Pliny the Elder