Top 33 Pliny the Elder Quotes (WISDOM)

Top 10 Most Famous Pliny the Elder Quotes (BEST)

“True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living in it.”
Pliny the Elder

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man. — **Hope** is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the **dream** of a waking man.

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit. — An object in possession seldom retains the same **charm** that it had in pursuit.

Fortune favors the brave. — **Fortune** favors the brave.

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.

The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.

No mortal man, moreover is wise at all moments.

Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. — Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can **learn** nothing without being taught.

17 Wise Pliny the Elder Quotes About Life (WISDOM)

“Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvelous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible until they have actually been effected?”
Pliny the Elder

There is no book so bad that some good can not be got out of it.

Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen. — Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we **fear** all that possibly may happen.

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

Truth comes out in wine. — **Truth** comes out in **wine**.

“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.”
Pliny the Elder

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

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

The lust of avarice as so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them than they possess their wealth. — The lust of avarice as so totally seized upon mankind that their **wealth** seems rather to possess them than they possess their wealth.

The invention of money opened a new field to human avarice by giving rise to usury and the practice of lending money at interest while the owner passes a life of idleness. — The invention of **money** opened a new field to human avarice by giving rise to usury and the practice of **lending** money at interest while the owner passes a life of idleness.

To seek after any shape of God, and to assign a form and image to Him, is a proof of man's folly. — To seek after any shape of God, and to assign a form and image to Him, is a proof of man’s folly.

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

Nothing is so unequal as equality. — Nothing is so unequal as **equality**.

A bad bargain is always a ground for repentance. — A bad bargain is always a ground for **repentance**.

“In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.”
Pliny the Elder

6 Pliny the Elder Quotes on Nature

“What is there more unruly than the sea, with its winds, its tornadoes, and its tempests? And yet in what department of her works has Nature been more seconded by the ingenuity of man than in this, by his inventions of sails and of oars?”
Pliny the Elder

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

Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit Nature, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work. — Such is the audacity of man, that he hath learned to counterfeit **Nature**, yea, and is so bold as to challenge her in her work.

There is always something new out of Africa.

Of all wonders, this is among the greatest, that some fresh waters close by the sea spring forth as out of pipes: for the nature of the waters also ceaseth not from miraculous properties.

“Man has learned how to challenge both Nature and art to become the incitements to vice! His very cups he has delighted to engrave with libidinous subjects, and he takes pleasure in drinking from vessels of obscene form!”
Pliny the Elder