163 Quotes by Pliny the Elder

God has no power over the past except to cover it with oblivion.

To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.

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 up on as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?

How many things... are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?

Nulla dies sine linea – Not a day without a line.

Among these things, one thing seems certain – that nothing certain exists and that there is nothing more pitiful or more presumptuous than man.

A dear bargain is always disagreeable, particularly as it is a reflection upon the buyer’s judgment.

Amid the sufferings of life on earth, suicide is God’s best gift to man.

In vino veritas.