Plautus quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Plautus

Plautus Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Plautus on Wise Famous Quotes.

No man will be respected by others who is despised by his own relatives.

How bitter it is to reap a harvest of evil for good that you have done!
[Lat., Ut acerbum est, pro benefactis quom mali messem metas!]

Est etiam, ubi profecto damnum praestet facere, quam lucrum - there are occasions when it is certainly better to lose than to gain

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

Man's fortune is usually changed at once; life is changeable.
[Lat., Actutum fortunae solent mutarier; varia vita est.]

Things we do not expect, happen more frequently than we wish.

It is difficult to whistle and drink at the same time.

It is a bitter disappointment when you have sown benefits, to reap injuries.

In everything the middle course is the best; everything in excess brings trouble.

The sea is certainly common to all.

To snatch the worm from the trap.

Your wealth is where your friends are.

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

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.

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.

I have taken a wife, I have sold my sovereignty for a dowry.
[Lat., Uxorem accepi, dote imperium vendidi.]

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

He whom the Gods love dies young.

The gods play games with men as balls

Drink, live like the Greeks, eat, gorge.

Where there are friends there is wealth.

It is difficult to fly without wings.

He can do most who has most power.

He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.

I suspect that hunger was my mother.

Man is no man, but a wolf

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

There's no such thing, you know, as picking out the best woman: it's only a question of comparative badness, brother.

Wisdom is not attained by years, but by ability.

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

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

Poverty is a thorough instructress in all the arts.
[Lat., Paupertas ... omnes artes perdocet.]

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

There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.

I am undone! I have smashed the waggon. [I have ruined all.]

Conquered, we conquer.

Courage is what preserves our liberty, safety, life, and our homes and parents, our country and children. Courage comprises all things.

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

Even the whole of life is not sufficient for thorough learning.

He who seeks for gain, must be at some expense.

He who is most on his guard is often himself taken in.

You drown him by your talk.

In misfortune if you cultivate a cheerful disposition you will reap the advantage of it.

Let deeds match words.

Your piping-hot lie is the best of lies.

The evil that we know is best.

Remind a man of what he remembers, and you will make him forget it.

It is best to know the worst at once.

Things unhoped for happen oftener than things we desire.

A mouse never entrusts his life to only one hole.

If you have overcome your inclination and not been overcome by it, you have reason to rejoice.

This is the great fault of wine; it first trips up the feet: it is a cunning wrestler.

Courage in danger is half the battle.

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

Let not your expenditure exceed your income.

How often the highest talent lurks in obscurity.

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

Every one can remember that which has interested himself.

Man is not man, but a wolf to those he does not know.

He is happy in his wisdom who has learned at another's expense.

That wife is an enemy to her husband who is given in marriage against her will.

A woman smells well when she smells of nothing.

I love truth and wish to have it always spoken to me: I hate a liar.
[Lat., Ego verum amo, verum volo mihi dici; mendacem odi.]

He who tries to protect himself from deception is often cheated, even when most on his guard.

Good things soon find a purchaser.

To love is human, it is also human to forgive.

If you speak insults you will hear them also.

To make any gain some outlay is necessary.

Arrogance is the outgrowth of prosperity.

Flight without feathers is not easy.

A man with courage has every blessing.

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

Worthy things happen to the worthy.

I seek the utmost pleasure and the least pain.

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

I am myself my own commander.
[Lat., Egomet sum mihi imperator.]

Courage easily finds its own eloquence.

The prudent man really frames his own fortunes for himself.

What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours.

It is wisdom to think upon anything before we execute it.

Courage is to take hard knocks like a man when occasion calls.

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

Where there are sheep, the wolves are never very far away.

It is well for one to know more than he says.

A word to the wise is sufficient

Know this, that troubles come swifter than the things we desire.

It is only when we have lost them that we fully appreciate our blessings.

Food of Acheron. (Grave.)
[Lat., Pabulum Acheruntis.]

Are you not accustomed to look at home, when you abuse others?

It is not fair to treat as serious that which is only said in joke.

Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.

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

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

Always bring money along with your complaints.

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

It is easy to rule over the good.

It is common to forget a man and slight him if his good will cannot help you.

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

A mouse relies not solely on one hole.

It is good to love in a moderate degree; but it is not good to love to distraction.