Pliny the Elder Quotations | Page 2

Wine takes away reason, engenders insanity, leads to thousands of crimes, and imposes such an enormous expense on nations.

Most men are afraid of a bad name, but few fear their consciences.

We neglect those things which are under our very eyes, and heedless of things within our grasp, pursue those which are afar off.

The leading distinction of magnets is sex... The kind that is found in Troas is black, and of the female sex, and consequently destitute of attractive power.

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.

Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others.

There is an herb named in Latine Convolvulus (i.e. with wind), growing among shrubs and bushes, with carrieth a flower not unlike to this Lilly, save that it yeeldeth no smell nor hath those chives within; for whitenesse they resemble one another very much, as if Nature in making this floure were a learning and trying her skill how to frame the Lilly indeed.

The great business of man is to improve his mind, and govern his manners; all other projects and pursuits, whether in our power to compass or not, are only amusements.

Wine maketh the band quivering, the eye watery, the night unquiet, lewd dreams, a stinking breath in the morning, and an utter forgetfulness of all things.

The most disgraceful cause of the scarcity [of remedies] is that even those who know them do not want to point them out, as if they were going to lose what they pass on to others.

Made up of the glories of the most precious gems, to describe them is a matter of inexpressible difficulty. For there is amongst them the gentler fire of the ruby, there is the rich purple of the amethyst, there is the sea-green of the emerald, and all shining together in an indescribable union. Others, by an excessive heightening of their hues equal all the colours of the painter, others the flame of burning brimstone, or of a fire quickened by oil.

The only certainty is uncertainty

As land is improved by sowing it with various seeds, so is the mind by exercising it with different studies.

Nature has given man no better thing than shortness of life.

Wine refreshes the stomach, sharpens the appetite, blunts care and sadness, and conduces to slumber.

When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.

Nothing is more useful than wine for strengthening the body and also more detrimental to our pleasure if moderation be lacking.

The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all too evil designs.

Nothing is so unequal as equality.

Truth comes out in wine.

No man's abilities are so remarkably shining as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity.

Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour.

The perverted ingenuity of man has given to water the power of intoxicating where wine is not procured. Western nations intoxicate themselves by moistened grain.

With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.

In wine, there's truth.

Contact with [menstrual blood] turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seed in gardens are dried up, the fruit of trees fall off, the edge of steel and the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bees die, even bronze and iron are at once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills the air; to taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison.

It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained.

From the end spring new beginnings.

There is, to be sure, no evil without something good.

Men are most apt to believe what they least understand; and through the lust of human wit obscure things are more easily credited.

Accustom yourself to master and overcome things of difficulty; for if you observe, the left hand for want of practice is insignificant, and not adapted to general business; yet it holds the bridle better than the right, from constant use.

Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures.

Better do nothing than do ill.