Plautus Quotes

#1. It wasn't for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.

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#2. Modesty should accompany youth.

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#3. Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.

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#4. In everything the middle road is best.

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#5. Find me a reasonable lover against his weight in gold.

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#6. It is sheer folly to take unwilling hounds to the chase.

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#7. I esteem death a trifle, if not caused by guilt.

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#8. That which you know, know not; and that which you see, see not.

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#9. I trust no rich man who is officiously kind to a poor man.

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#10. Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only.

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#11. After all, what is money apart from what it can buy?

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#12. Arrogance is the outgrowth of prosperity.

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#13. If you strike the goads with your fists, your hands suffer most.

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#14. He is a friend who, in dubious circumstances, aids in deeds when deeds are necessary.

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#15. Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.

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#16. A woman finds it much easier to do ill than well.
[Lat., Mulieri nimio male facere melius est onus, quam bene.]

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#17. The Bell never rings of itself; unless some one handles or moves it it is dumb.
[Lat., Nunquam aedepol temere tinniit tintinnabulum;
Nisi quis illud tractat aut movet, mutum est, tacet.]

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#18. Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.

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#19. That man is worthless who knows how to receive a favor, but not how to return one.

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#20. A woman smells well when she smells of nothing.

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#21. He whom the gods love dies young, while he is in health, has his senses and his judgments sound.

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#22. I have lost my oil and my labor. (Labored in vain.)
[Lat., Oleum et operam perdidi.]

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#23. Vulgarity of manners defiles fine garments more than mud.

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#24. Bad conduct soils the finest ornament more than filth.

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#25. The poor man who enters into a partnership with one who is rich makes a risky venture.

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#26. To waste one's breath; to pump into a sieve.

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#27. Flight without feathers is not easy.

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#28. You have eaten a meal dangerously seasoned. [You have laid up a grief in store for yourself.]

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#29. Good things soon find a purchaser.

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#30. Disgrace is immortal, and living even when one thinks it dead.

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#31. Always bring money along with your complaints.

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#32. A word to the wise is enough.

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#33. Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good will should all be hanged
the former by their tongues, the latter by the ears.

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#34. There is indeed a God that hears and sees whate'er we do.
[Lat., Est profecto deus, qui, quae nos gerimus, auditque et videt.]

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#35. Never speak ill of an absent friend.

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#36. If you do anything well, gratitude is lighter than a feather; if you give offense in anything, people's wrath is as heavy as lead.

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#37. Man is a wolf to man.
[Lat., Homo homini lupus.]

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#38. He who has in due season become rich, unless he saves in due season, will in due season starve.

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#39. He who rushes headlong into love will fare worse than if he had cast himself from a precipice.

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#40. That's a miserable and cursed word, to say I had, when what I have is nothing.

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#41. He who accuses another of wrong should look well into his own conduct.

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#42. I seek the utmost pleasure and the least pain.

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#43. Let a man who wants to find abundance of employment procure a woman and a ship: for no two things do produce more trouble if you begin to equip them; neither are these two things ever equipped enough.

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#44. Where there are friends there is wealth.

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#45. Because those, who twit others with their faults, should look at home.

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#46. A mouse never entrusts his life to only one hole.

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#47. A well-balanced mind is the best remedy against affliction.

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#48. If you are content, you have enough to live comfortably.

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#49. You little know what a ticklish thing it is to go to law.
[Lat., Nescis tu quam meticulosa res sit ire ad judicem.]

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#50. Women have many faults, but the worst of them all is that they are too pleased with themselves and take too little pains to please the men.

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#51. Know not what you know, and see not what you see.
[Lat., Etiam illud quod scies nesciveris;
Ne videris quod videris.]

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#52. You will stir up the hornets.
[Lat., Irritabis crabones.]

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#53. You love a nothing when you love an ingrate.

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#54. This is the great evil in wine, it first seizes the feet; it is a cunning wrestler.
[Lat., Magnum hoc vitium vino est,
Pedes captat primum; luctator dolosu est.]

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#55. The gods give that man some profit to whom they are propitious.
[Lat., Cui homini dii propitii sunt aliquid objiciunt lucri.]

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#56. Every one can remember that which has interested himself.

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#57. Practice yourself what you preach.

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#58. In wondrous ways do the gods make sport with men.
[Lat., Miris modis Di ludos faciunt hominibus.]

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#59. It is not without a purpose when a rich man greets a poor one with kindness.

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#60. How great in number are the little minded men.

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#61. He gains wisdom in a happy way, who gains it by another's experience.
[Lat., Feliciter sapit qui alieno periculo sapit.]

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#62. He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.

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#63. Keep what you have got; the known evil is best.
[Lat., Habeas ut nactus; nota mala res optima est.]

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#64. Flying without feathers is not easy; my wings have no feathers.

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#65. Courage in danger is half the battle.

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#66. The greatest talents often lie buried out of sight.

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#67. If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.

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#68. Feast today makes fast tomorrow

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#69. A woman without paint is like food without salt.

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#70. As long as she is wise and good, a girl has sufficient dowry.

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#71. Let not your expenditure exceed your income.

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#72. If I can only keep my good name, I shall have riches enough.

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#73. And so it happens oft in many instances; more good is done without our knowledge than by us intended.
[Lat., Itidemque ut saepe jam in multis locis,
Plus insciens quis fecit quam prodens boni.]

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#74. Men understand the worth of blessings only when they have lost them.

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#75. Worthy things happen to the worthy.

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#76. We only appreciate the comforts of life in their loss.

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#77. The gods play games with men as balls

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#78. To blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.
[Lat., Simul flare sorbereque haud facile
Est: ego hic esse et illic simul, haud potui.]

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#79. He means well' is useless unless he does well.

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#80. Ut saepe summa ingenia in occulto latent (How often the greatest talents are shrouded in obscurity)

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#81. There are games in which it is better to lose than win.

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#82. That man will never be unwelcome to others who makes himself agreeable to his own family.

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#83. Persevere in virtue and diligence.

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#84. He who would eat the kernel, must crack the shell.
[Lat., Qui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangat nucem.]

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#85. Fortune moulds and circumscribes human affairs as she pleases.
[Lat., Fortuna humana fingit artatque ut lubet.]

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#86. It is customary these days to ignore what should be done in favour of what pleases us.

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#87. To ask that which is unjust at the hands of the just, is an injustice in itself; to expect that which is just from the unjust, is simple folly.

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#88. What you lend is lost; when you ask for it back, you may find a friend made an enemy by your kindness. If you begin to press him further, you have the choice of two things
either to lose your loan or lose your friend.

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#89. All good men and women should be on their guard to avoid guilt, and even the suspicion of it.

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#90. He who falls in love meets a worse fate than he who leaps from a rock.

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#91. Every man, however wise, needs the advice of some sagacious friend in the affairs of life.

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#92. He that is in love, faith, if he be hungry, is not hungry at all.

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#93. Spice a dish with love and it pleases every palate.

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#94. Man is no man, but a wolf

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#95. He who dies for virtue does not perish.

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#96. If you speak insults you will hear them also.

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#97. Nothing is more annoying than a tardy friend.
[Lat., Tardo amico nihil est quidquam iniquius.]

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#98. The fool too late, his substance eaten up, reckons the cost.

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#99. The man who would be fully employed should procure a ship or a woman, for no two things produce more trouble.

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#100. It does not matter a feather whether a man be supported by patron or client, if he himself wants courage.
[Lat., Animus tamen omnia vincit.
Ille etiam vires corpus habere facit.]

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