The qoutes are, mainly, from classical figures. The authors are arranged in alphabetical order. As always, mail me if you encounter any incorrect information.
Go To S. Aurelius Augstine
Go To Gaius Julius
Caesar
Go To Marcus Porcius Cato
Go To Marcus
Tullius Cicero
Go To Quintus Horatius Flaccus
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To Titus Livius
Go To Publius Ovidius Naso
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To Marcus Pacuvius
Go To Publius Cornelius Tacitus
S. Aurelius Augustine (354-430 A.D.)
Ab exordio generis humani, quicumque in eum cerdiderunt, eumque utcumque intellexerunt, et secundum
eius praecepta pie iusteque vixerunt, quandolibet et ubilibet fuerint, pro eo procul dubio salvi facti
sunt.
From the beginning of mankind, those who believed in Him [Christ] and knew Him in any way,
and lived a pious and just life according to his precepts, wherever and whenever they may have been, were
beyond doubt saved by Him.
-Epistulae, 102, 12
Inexcusabilis est omnis peccator vel reatu originis vel additamento etiam propriae voluntatis, sive qui novit
sive qui ignorat, sive qui iudicat sive qui non iudicat; quia et ipsa ignorantia in iis, qui intelligere noluerunt, sine
dubitatione peccatum est, in iis autem qui non potuerunt, poena peccati.
Every sinner is inexcusable,
whether because of the original sin or because of an additional offense due to his own will, whether he konws or
does not know it, whether he condemns or does not condemn it; because in those unwilling to understand
ignorance itself is beyond doubt a sin, and in those unable to understand, this inability is the penalty of
sin.
-Id., 194, 6, 27
Ne te sanum putes. Sanitas immortalitas erit. Nam haec longa aegritudo erit.
Don't think yourself
healthy. Health will be immortality. This life will be a long sickness.
-Sermones, 77, 4
Appetitio igitur beatae vitae philosophis Christianisque communis est. ... Dic, Epicurice, quae res faciat
beatum? Respondit: voluptas corporis. Dic, Stoice? Virtus animi. Dic Christiane? Donum Dei.
The quest
for a happy life is thus common to the philosophers and the Christians. ... Tell us, Epicurean, what things make
us happy? his answer is: Bodily pleasures. And you, Stoic? Intellectual virtue. And you, Christian? The gift of
God.
-Id., 150, 3, 7
Est autem fides creder quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis.
Faith is to
believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
-Id., 43, 1, 1
Grande profundum est ipse homo, cuius etiam capillos tu, domine, numeratos, habes et non minuuntur in
te: et tamen capilli eius magis numerabiles quam affectus eius et motus cordis eius.
Man is a mighty
deep, whose very hairs you have numbered, O Lord, and they are not lessened before you. But man's hairs are
easier to count than his affections and the movements of his heart.
-Confessiones, IV, 14
Tolle lege, Tolle lege
Take up and read, Take up and read.
Gaius Julius Caesar(100-44 B.C.)
Caesar coin
Consuesse enim deos immortales, quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant, quos pro scelere
eorum ulcisci velint, his secundiores interdum res et diutiurniorem impunitatem concedere.
The
immortal gods, when they intend to punish some men for their sins, sometimes grant them temporaary
prosperity and prolonged immunity to make them suffer more severely from a change of
fortune.
-Commentarii de bello Gallico, I, 14
Quae volumus et credimus libenter, et quae sentimus ipsi, reliquos sentire speramus.
What we
desire we readily believe, and what we ourselves think we expect others to think.
-Commentarii de bello
civili, II, 27
Tamquam scopulum, sic fugias inauditum atque insolens verbum.
Avoid a strange and
unfamiliar word as you would a dangerous reef.
-De Analogia, Aulus Gellius, I, x, 4
Iacta alea esto.
The die is cast. [Said as he was about to cross the Rubicon on January 10, 49
B.C.]
-Suetonius, I, 32
Veni, vidi, vici.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
-Ibid., 37
Et tu Brute.
You, too. Brutus. [Caesar's last words, according to
Shakespeare.]
-Ibid., 82
Kai su teknon.
You too, my son! [Caesar's last words, as recorded by
Suetonius.]
-Suetonius
Satis diu vel naturae vixi, vel gloriae.
I have lived long enough both in years and in
accopmlishment. [Said two years before his death]
-Cicero, Pro Marcello, VIII, 25
Meos tam suspicione quam crimine iudico carere oportere.
I feel that members of my family
should never be suspected of breaking the law. ["Caesar's wife should be above suspicion," is Plutarch's
version.]
-Ibid., 74
Nam si violandum est ius, regnandi gratia violandum est: aliis rebus pietatem colas
If you must
break the law do it only to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
-Cicero, De Officiis, III, 12
Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC)
Carthago delenda est
Carthage must be destroyed
-Cato ended every speech in the
Senate with this phrase
Quid est argum bene colere? bene arare. Quid est secundum? arare. Quid tertium?
stercorare.
What is good farming? Good plowing. What is the second thing? Plowing. What third?
Manuring.
-De Agri Cultura, LXI
Per imbrem in villa quarito quid fieri possit. Ne cessetur, munditias facito. Cogitato, si nihil fiet, nihilo
minus sumptum futurum.
On a rainy day see what can be done around the house. Rather than stand
idle, tidy things up. Remember, though no work is done, the expenses do not stop.
-Id., XXXIX
Fures privatorum in nervo atque in compedibus aetatem agunt; fures publici in auro atgue in
purpura.
Those who steal from private individuals spend their lives in stocks and chains; those who
steal from the public treasure go dressed in gold and purple.
-Praeda militibus dividenda (Id., XI,
18)
Orator est vir bonus dicendi peritus.
An orator is a good man skilled in
speaking
-Quoted by Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, XII, i, 1
Marcus Tullius Cicero(106-43 B.C.)
Small picture
Cedant arma togae, conceday laurea linguae.
Let arms yield to the toga, let the [victor's] laurel
yield to the [orator's] tongue.
-De Consulatu Suo
O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!
O fortunate Rome born in my
consulship!
-Ibid.
O tempora, o mores! Senatus haec intellegit, consul videt; hic tamen vivit.
What times! What
manners! The Senate knows these things, the consul sees them, and yet this man lives.
-Ibid.
Cum tacent, clamant
Their very silence is a loud cry.
-Id., I, 21
Nihil tam munitum qoud non expugnari pecunia possit.
No place is so strongly fortified that
money could not capture it.
-In Verrem, I, ii, 4
Cui placet obliviscitur, cui dolet meminit
We forget our pleasures, we remember our
sufferings.
-Id., 42
Silent leges inter arma
In time of war the laws are silent.
-Pro Milone, 11
Homines enim ad deos nulla re propius accedunt quam salutem hominibus dando.
In nothing
are men more like gods than in coming to the rescue of their fellow men.
-Pro Ligario, 38
Cuisvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore persevare.
Any man is liable to err,
only a fool persists in error.
-Id., XII, ii, 5
Mea mihi conscientia pluris est quam omniu, sermo.
My own conscience is more to me than
what the world says.
-Ibid., 28, 2
Nemo doctus umquam...mutationem consilii inconstantiam dixit esse.
No thinker has ever...said
that a change of mind was inconsistency.
-Id., XVI, 7, 3
Nihil est qoud adventum nostrum extimescas: non multi cibi hospitem accipies, multi
ioci.
Absolutely no reason why you should be apprehensive of my visit: you'll recieve a guest who is a
small eater but a big joker.
-Id., IX, 26, 4
Illa vox et imploratio "Civis Romanus sum," quae saepe multis in ultimis terris opem inter barbaros et
salutem tulit.
"I am a Roman citizen"-that appeal has often helped and even saved many a man among
barbarians in the remotest lands.
-In Verrem II, v, 147
Quintus Horatius Flaccus December 8, 65- November 27, 8 B.C.
Quid rides? Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur.
Why do you smile? Change but the name,
and it is of yourself that the tale is told.
-Ibid., 69
Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt.
Fools in avoiding a vice run into its
opposite.
-Id., ii, 24
Non satis puris versum persribere verbis.
It is not enough to make up your verse of plain
words.
-Ibid., 54
O noctes cenaque deum!
O nights and suppers of gods!
-Ibid., 65
Est et fideli tuta silentio merces.
Loyal reticence too has its reward secure.
-Ibid.,
25
Miraris, cum tu argento post omnia ponas, si nemo praestet quem non merearis amorem?
Can
you wonder, when you rank everything after you money, that no one renders you the love which you do not
earn?
-Ibid., 86
Absentem qui rodit amicum, qui non defendit alio culpante, solutos qui captat risus hominum famamque
dicacis, fingere qui non visa potest, commissa tacere qui nequit: hic niger est, hunc tu, Romane,
caveto.
The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another
blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never
say, who cannot kepp a secret-that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him, if you are a Roman.
-Ibid.,
81
Titus Livius 59 B.C. - A.D. 17
Nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus.
We can endure neither our vices nor the remedies
for them.
-Ibid., 9
Ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creverit ut iam magnitudine laboret sua.
Rome has grown so since
its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness.
-Ab Urbe condita, Praefatio,
4
In rebus asperis et tenui spe fortissima quaeque consilia tutissima sunt.
In difficult and
hopeless circumstances the boldest plans are the safest.
-Ibid.
Intoleranda Romanis vox, Vae victis.
"Woe to the conquered," a saying intolerable to Roman
ears.
-Id., V, 48
Non semper temeitas est felix.
No crime is rational.
-Ibid., 42
Nihil tam incertum nec tam inaestimabile est quam animi multitudinis.
Nothing is so uncertain
or so incalcuable as the disposition of a crowd.
-Id., XXXI, 34
Amicitiae immortales, mortales inimicitias debere esse.
Our friendships should be immortal, our
enmities mortal.
-Id., XL, 46
Ea natura multitudinis est: aut servit humiliter, aut superbe dominatur; libertatem, quae media est, nec
suscupere modice nec habere sunt.
Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or
arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate uses of freedom, which is the middle course,
or of keeping it.
-Id., XXIV, 25
Nulla lex satis commoda omnibus est.
No law is sufficiently convenient to all.
-Id.,
XXXIV, 3
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 B.C. - c. 17 A.D.
Cui peccare licet, peccat minus; ipsa potestas semina nequitiae languidiora facit.
She to whom
erring is free errs less; very power makes less quick the seeds of sin.
-Amores, III, 4, 9
Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata.
We ever strive for what is forbidden, and ever
covet what is denied.
-Ibid., 37
Nil mihi rescribas, tu tamen ipse veni!
Write nothing back to me-yourself come [Penelope to
Ulysses]
-Heroides, 1, 2
Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae
They come to see, they come that they may be
seen.
-Ars amatoria, I, 99
Utque vira furtiva Venus, sic grata puellae. Vir male dissimulat; tectius illa cupit.
And as stolen
love is pleasant to a man, so it is also to a woman; the man dissebles badly; she conceals desire
better.
-Ibid., 275
Pessima sit, nulli non sua forma placet.
Hideous though she may be, there is none her looks do
not please.
-Ibid., 614
Iuppiter ex alto periuria redet amantum.
Jupiter from on high smiles at the perjuries of
loveres.
-Ibid., 63
Ludite, si sapitis, solas impune puellas: hac minus est una fraude tuenda fides. Fallite fallentes: ex magna
parte profanum sunt genus: in laqueos quos posuere, cadant.
If you are wise, cheat women only, and
acoid trouble; keep faith save for this one deceitfullness. Deceive the deceivers; they are mostly an unrighteous
sort; let them fall into the snare which they have laid.
-Ibid., 643
Si nec blanda satis nec erit tibi comis amanti, perfer et obdura; postmodo mitis erit.
Should she
be neither kindly nor couteous to your wooing, persist and steel your resolve; one day she will be
kind.
-Ibid., 177
Militiae species amor est; discedite segnes! non sunt haec timidis signa tuenda viris.
Love is a
kind of warfare; avaunt, ye leggards! These banners are not for timid men to guard.
-Ibid., 233
Nec quotus annus est, nec quo sit nata require consule; quae rigidus munera censor habet.
Ask
not how old she is, nor under what consul she was born; these are the duties of the stern Censor.
-Ibid.,
663
Auferimur cultu; gemmis auroque teguntur omnia; pars minima est ipsa puella sui.
We are won
by dress; all is concealed by gems and gold; a woman is the least part of herself.
-Remedia amoris,
343
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora.
My mind is bent to tell of bodies changed
into new forms.
-Metamorphoses, I, 1
Et felicissima maturm dicta foret Niobe, si non sibi visa fuisset.
And Niobe would have been
called most blessed of mothers, had she not seemed so to herself.
-Id., VI, 155
Labitur occulte fallitque volatilis aetas, et nihil est annis velocius.
Time glides by imperceptible
and cheats is in its flight, and nothing is swifter than the years.
-Id., X, 518
Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine captos ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui.
By what
sweet charm I know not the native land draws all men nor allows them to forget it.
-Epistulae ex Ponto,
I, 3, 35
Regia, crede mihi, res est succurrere lapsis.
"Tis a royal deed, I assure thee, to help the
fallen.
-Id., II, 9, 11
