Martial Quotes

#1. The swifter hand doth the swift words outrun: Before the tongue hath spoke the hand hath done.

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#2. She grieves sincerely who grieves unseen.

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#3. Some good, some so-so, and lots plain bad: that's how a book of poems is made, my Friend.

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#4. You should not fear, nor yet should you wish for your last day.

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#5. They let out on hire their passions and eloquence. [Referring to lawyers.]

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#6. A jar of wine so priceless did not deserve to die. and
Never think of leaving perfume or wines to your heir. Administer these youself and let him have the money.

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#7. Red-haired, black-lipped, club-footed, and blink-eyed; if you're a good man, you're a wonder!

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#8. There is no glory in otustripping donkeys.

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#9. Our days pass by, and are scored against us.

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#10. The shameless Chloe placed on the tombs of her seven husbands the inscription, "The work of Chloe." How could she have expressed herself more plainly?

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#11. I'm what I seem; not any dyer gave, But nature dyed this colour that I have.

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#12. If you want him to mourn, you had best leave him nothing.

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#13. 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?

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#14. The flaw which is hidden is deemed greater than it is.

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#15. I have not hated the man, but his faults.

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#16. While you cannot resolve what you are, at last you will be nothing.

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#17. Service cannot be expected from a friend in service; let him be a freeman who wishes to be my master.

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#18. From no place can you exclude the fates.
[Lat., Nullo fata loco possis excludere.]

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#19. Be merry if you are wise.

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#20. Fortune gives many too much, but none enough.

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#21. Too late is tomorrow's life; live for today.

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

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#23. Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well.

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#24. Whoever is not too wise is wise.
[Lat., Quisquis plus justo non sapit, ille sapit.]

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#25. Life's not just about being alive, but being well.

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#26. It is feeling and force of imagination that make us eloquent.

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#27. I wont let a wife lead me to the altar. [I will not have a wife that shall be my master.]

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#28. The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved in amber, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar.

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#29. The swan murmurs sweet strains with a flattering tongue, itself the singer of its own dirge.

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#30. 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.

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#31. Of no day can the retrospect cause pain to a good man.

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#32. Be cheerful, if you are wise.

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#33. A good man doubles the length of his existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past existence is to live twice.

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#34. If your slave commits a fault, do not smash his teeth with your fists; give him some of the (hard) biscuit which famous Rhodes has sent you.

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#35. However great the dish that holds the turbot, the turbot is still greater than the dish.

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#36. An honest man is always a child.
[Lat., Semper bonus homo tiro est.]

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#37. Work divided is in that manner shortened.

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#38. If I remember right, Aelia, you had four teeth; a cough displaced two, another two more. You can now cough without anxiety all the day long. A third cough can find nothing to do in your mouth.

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#39. He writes nothing whose writings are not read.

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#40. The present joys of life we doubly taste,
By looking back with pleasure to the past.

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#41. You may envy every one, but no one envies you.

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#42. You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe
or she will call you ungrateful.

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#43. 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.

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#44. Glory comes too late when we are nought but ashes.

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#45. To the ashes of the dead glory comes too late.

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

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#47. Whoever makes great presents, expects great presents in return.

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#48. All your female friends are either old or ugly; nay, more ugly than old women usually are. These you lead about in your train, and drag with you to feasts, porticos and theaters. Thus, Fabulla, you seem handsome, thus you seem young.

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#49. Can the fish love the fisherman?
[Lat., Piscatorem piscis amare potest?]

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#50. Gifts are like hooks.

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#51. Givers of great dinners know few enemies.

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#52. If you have any shame, forbear to pluck the beard of a dead lion.

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#53. There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.

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#54. To-morrow I will live, the fool does say;
To-day itself's too late, the wise lived yesterday.

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#55. My poems are naughty, but my life is pure.

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#56. Wish to be what you are, and wish for no other position.

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#57. Every epigram should resemble a bee; it should have sting, honey, and brevity.

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#58. This I ask, is it not madness to kill thyself in order to escape death?
[Lat., Hic rogo non furor est ne moriare mori?]

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#59. It is as good as second life to be able to look back upon our past life with pleasure

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#60. If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts.

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#61. Some things are good, some middling, more bad.

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#62. You importune me, Tucca, to present you with my books. I shall not do so; for you want to sell, not to read, them.

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#63. Your seventh wife, Phileros, is now being buried in your field. No man's field brings him greater profit than yours, Phileros.

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#64. It is to live twice when we can enjoy the recollections of our former life.

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#65. Make it a point not to be over-fascinating.

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#66. The virtuous man is never a novice in worldly things.

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

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#68. 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.

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#69. Do you ask why I am unwilling to marry a rich wife? It is because I am unwilling to be taken to husband by my wife. The mistress of the house should be subordinate to her husband, for in no other way, Priscus, will the wife and husband be on an equality.

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#70. Hidden evils are most dreaded.

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#71. 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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#72. No man is quick enough to enjoy life.

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#73. Wine and women bring misery.

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#74. He truly sorrows who sorrows unseen.

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#75. Some are good, some are middling, the most are bad.

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#76. Why do I not kiss you, Philaenis? you are bald. Why do I not kiss you, Philaenis? you are carrotty. Why do I not kiss you, Philaenis? you are one-eyed. He who kisses you, Philaenis, sins against nature.

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#77. I have granted you much that you asked: and yet you never cease to ask of me. He who refuses nothing, Atticilla, will soon have nothing to refuse.

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#78. Believing hear, what you deserve to hear:
Your birthday as my own to me is dear ...
But yours gives most; for mine did only lend
Me to the world; yours gave to me a friend.

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#79. Why do strong arms fatigue themselves with frivolous dumbbells? To dig a vineyard is worthier exercise for men.

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#80. No hero to me is the man who, by easy shedding of his blood, purchases fame: my hero is he who, without death, can win praise.

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#81. Epigrams need no crier, but are content with their own tongue.

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#82. For wealth's now given to none but to the rich.

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#83. To have nothing is not poverty.
[Lat., Non est paupertas, Nestor, habere nihil.]

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#84. If my opinion is of any worth, the fieldfare is the greatest delicacy among birds, the hare among quadrupeds.

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#85. 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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#86. If fame comes after death, I'm in no hurry for it.
[Lat., Si post fata venit gloria non propero.]

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#87. You are so pure in mind and heart,
In aspect, too, so mild,
I wonder that you ever could
Implant your wife with child.

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#88. A fisherman's walk: three steps and overboard.

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#89. Nothing is more ill-timed than an ill-timed laugh.

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#90. To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.

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#91. The face that cannot smile is never fair.

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#92. I do not hate the man, but his vices.

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#93. Those they praise, but they read the others.

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#94. While an ant was wandering under the shade of the tree of Phaeton, a drop of amber enveloped the tiny insect; thus she, who in life was disregarded, became precious by death.

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#95. You crystal break, for fear of breaking it: Careless and careful hands like faults commit.

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#96. In adversity it is easy to despise life; he is truly brave who can endure a writeched life

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#97. Who gives to friends so much from Fate secures,
That is the only wealth for ever yours.
[Lat., Extra fortunam est, quidquid donatur amicis;
Quas dederis, selas semper habebis opes.]

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#98. Gifts are like fish-hooks; for who is not aware that the greedy char is deceived by the fly which he swallows?

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#99. You'll get no laurel crown for outrunning a burrow.

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#100. I believe that man to be wretched whom none can please.

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