110+ Martial Quotes On Satirical, Witty And Playful.

Martial was a Roman poet from the 1st century AD. He is best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, which are short, witty poems on various topics. Martial wrote in a variety of styles and was a major influence on the development of Latin literature. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Martial on life, satirical, witty.

Top 10 Martial Quotes

1. Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well.
2. Why do strong arms fatigue themselves with frivolous dumbbells? To dig a vineyard is worthier exercise for men.
3. There is nothing more revolting than an old busybody.
4. Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door always open tempts no suitor.
5. I would not miss your face, your neck, your hands, your limbs, your bosom and certain other of your charms. Indeed, not to become boring by naming them all, I could do without you, Chloe, altogether.
6. There is no living with thee, nor without thee.
7. Remember, cobbler, to keep to your leather. [Lat., Memento, in pellicula, cerdo, tenere tuo.]
8. He who writes distichs, wishes, I suppose, to please by brevity. But, tell me, of what avail is their brevity, when there is a whose book full of them?
9. Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
10. There is no glory in outstripping donkeys.

Martial Short Quotes

• Wine and women bring misery.
• The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved in amber, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar.
• He who weighs his burdens, can bear them.
• It is easy in adversity to despise death; he has real fortitude who dares to live and be wretched.
• Givers of great dinners know few enemies.
• A good man enlarges the term of his own existence.
• It is feeling and force of imagination that make us eloquent.
• Can the fish love the fisherman? [Lat., Piscatorem piscis amare potest?]
• She grieves sincerely who grieves unseen.
• If fame comes after death, I'm in no hurry for it. [Lat., Si post fata venit gloria non propero.]

Martial Quotes About Life

You're obstinate, pliant, merry, morose, all at once. For me there's no living with you, or without you. — Martial

Virtue extends our days: he lives two lives who relives his past with pleasure. — Martial

My poems are naughty, but my life is pure. — Martial

Life is not living, but living in health. — Martial

Short is the life of those who possess great accomplishments, and seldom do they reach a good old age. Whatever thou lovest, pray that thou mayest not set too high a value on it. — Martial

While an ant was wandering under the shade of the tree of Phaeton, a drop of amber enveloped the tiny insect; thus she, who in life was disregarded, became precious by death. — Martial

Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality, and benevolence; the other from pride or fear, or from the fact that you cannot take your money with you to the other world. — Martial

It is as good as second life to be able to look back upon our past life with pleasure — Martial

It is to live twice when we can enjoy the recollections of our former life. — Martial

Live thy life as it were spoil and pluck the joys that fly. — Martial

Martial Famous Quotes And Sayings

The African lions rush to attack bulls; they do not attack butterflies. [Lat., In tauros Libyci ruunt leones; Non sunt papilionibus molesti.] — Martial

Believing hear, what you deserve to hear: Your birthday as my own to me is dear... But yours gives most; for mine did only lend Me to the world; yours gave to me a friend. — Martial

If your slave commits a fault, do not smash his teeth with your fists; give him some of the (hard) biscuit which famous Rhodes has sent you. — Martial

Spare the person but lash the vice. — Martial

All your female friends are either old or ugly; nay, more ugly than old women usually are. These you lead about in your train, and drag with you to feasts, porticos and theaters. Thus, Fabulla, you seem handsome, thus you seem young. — Martial

The flaw which is hidden is deemed greater than it is. — Martial

There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair. — Martial

It is not he who forms idols in gold or marble that makes them gods, but he who kneels before them. — Martial

Service cannot be expected from a friend in service; let him be a freeman who wishes to be my master. — Martial

Do you ask what sort of a maid I desire or dislike, Flaccus? I dislike one too easy and one too coy. The just mean, which lies between the two extremes, is what I approve; I like neither that which tortures nor that which cloys. — Martial

Your page stands against you and says to you that you are a thief. — Martial

A vagrant is everywhere at home. — Martial

What quick wit is found in sudden straits! — Martial

Work divided is in that manner shortened. — Martial

See, how the liver is swollen larger than a fat goose! In amazement you will exclaim: Where could this possibly grow? — Martial

You should not fear, nor yet should you wish for your last day. — Martial

If you have any shame, forbear to pluck the beard of a dead lion. — Martial

The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved, in a tear of the sisters of Phaeton, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar. It has obtained a worthy reward for its great toils; we may suppose that the bee itself would have desired such a death. — Martial

Who gives to friends so much from Fate secures, That is the only wealth for ever yours. [Lat., Extra fortunam est, quidquid donatur amicis; Quas dederis, selas semper habebis opes.] — Martial

While you remain at home your hair is at the hairdresser's; you take out your teeth at night and sleep tucked away in a hundred cosmetics boxes - even your face does not sleep with you. — Martial

I seem to you cruel and too much addicted to gluttony, when I beat my cook for sending up a bad dinner. If that appears to you too trifling a cause, say for what cause you would have a cook flogged. — Martial

A cook should double one sense have: for he Should taster for himself and master be. — Martial

One genius has made many clever artists. — Martial

When your crowd of attendants so loudly applaud you, Pomponius, it is not you, but your banquet, that is eloquent. — Martial

Be content to be what you are, and prefer nothing to it, and do not fear or wish for your last day. — Martial

You praise, in three hundred verses, Sabellus, the baths of Ponticus, who gives such excellent dinners. You wish to dine, Sabellus, not to bathe. — Martial

If my opinion is of any worth, the fieldfare is the greatest delicacy among birds, the hare among quadrupeds. — Martial

If you want him to mourn, you had best leave him nothing. — Martial

Joys do not stay, but take wing and fly away. — Martial

You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe--or she will call you ungrateful. — Martial

I am a shell-fish just come from being saturated with the waters of the Lucrine lake, near Baiae; but now I luxuriously thrust for noble pickle. — Martial

Man loves malice, but not against one-eyed men nor the unfortunate, but against the fortunate and proud. — Martial

I wont let a wife lead me to the altar. [I will not have a wife that shall be my master.] — Martial

You admire, Vacerra, only the poets of old and praise only those who are dead. Pardon me, I beseech you, Vacerra, if I think death too high a price to pay for your praise. — Martial

If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts. — Martial

That which prevents disagreeable flies from feeding on your repast, was once the proud tail of a splendid bird. — Martial

You crystal break, for fear of breaking it: Careless and careful hands like faults commit. — Martial

A fisherman's walk: three steps and overboard. — Martial

Be merry if you are wise. — Martial

No hero to me is the man who, by easy shedding of his blood, purchases fame: my hero is he who, without death, can win praise. — Martial

He who thinks that the lives of Priam and of Nestor were long is much deceived and mistaken. Life consists not in living, but in enjoying health. — Martial

If you are poor now, Aemilianus, you will always be poor. Riches are now given to none but the rich. — Martial

This I ask, is it not madness to kill thyself in order to escape death? [Lat., Hic rogo non furor est ne moriare mori?] — Martial

It is folly to waste labour about trifles. — Martial

The shameless Chloe placed on the tombs of her seven husbands the inscription, "The work of Chloe." How could she have expressed herself more plainly? — Martial

Red-haired, black-lipped, club-footed, and blink-eyed; if you're a good man, you're a wonder! — Martial

To the ashes of the dead glory comes too late. — Martial

A jar of wine so priceless did not deserve to die. and Never think of leaving perfume or wines to your heir. Administer these youself and let him have the money. — Martial

To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice. — Martial

I do not hate the man, but his vices. — Martial

Epigrams need no crier, but are content with their own tongue. — Martial

For wealth's now given to none but to the rich. — Martial

The face that cannot smile is never fair. — Martial

Some good, some so-so, and lots plain bad: that's how a book of poems is made, my Friend. — Martial

Laugh, if thou art wise. — Martial

To-morrow I will live, the fool does say; To-day itself's too late, the wise lived yesterday. — Martial

You puff the poets of other days, The living you deplore. Spare me the accolade: your praise Is not worth dying for. — Martial

The world is blessed most by men who do things, and not by those who merely talk about them. -James Oliver 'Tomorrow I will live,' the fool does say; tomorrow itself is late; the wise live yesterday. — Martial

I believe that man to be wretched whom none can please. — Martial

From no place can you exclude the fates. [Lat., Nullo fata loco possis excludere.] — Martial

Some things are good, some middling, more bad. — Martial

A man who lives everywhere lives nowhere. — Martial

No amount of misfortune will satisfy the man who is not satisfied with reading a hundred epigrams. — Martial

They let out on hire their passions and eloquence. [Referring to lawyers.] — Martial

You give me nothing during your life, but you promise to provide for me at your death. If you are not a fool, you know what I wish for! — Martial

I know all that better than my own name. — Martial

You complain, friend Swift, of the length of my epigrams, but you yourself write nothing. Yours are shorter. — Martial

Nothing is more ill-timed than an ill-timed laugh. — Martial

Such are thou and I: but what I am thou canst not be; what thou art any one of the multitude may be. — Martial

Be not too thick with anybody; your joys will be fewer, and so will pains. — Martial

What's a wretched man? A man whom no man pleases. — Martial

To have nothing is not poverty. [Lat., Non est paupertas, Nestor, habere nihil.] — Martial

You ask what a nice girl will do? She won't give an inch, but she won't say no. — Martial

In adversity it is easy to despise life; he is truly brave who can endure a writeched life — Martial

No man is quick enough to enjoy life. — Martial

Tis easy to write epigrams nicely, but to write a book is hard. — Martial

You may envy every one, but no one envies you. — Martial

I commend you, Postumus, for kissing me with only half your lip; you may, however, if you please, withhold even the half of this half. Are you inclined to grant me a boon still greater, and even inexpressible? Keep this whole half entirely to yourself, Postumus. — Martial

For life is only life when blessed with health. — Martial

However great the dish that holds the turbot, the turbot is still greater than the dish. — Martial

He who prefers to give Linus the half of what he wishes to borrow, rather than to lend him the whole, prefers to lose only the half. — Martial

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name. [Lat., Nolo virum facili redimit qui sanquine famam; Hunc volo laudari qui sine morte potest.] — Martial

Life Lessons by Martial

1. Martial's work emphasizes the importance of living life to the fullest, as it is fleeting and should be enjoyed.
2. His writing also encourages readers to appreciate the beauty of the world around them, from nature to the people they interact with.
3. Finally, Martial's work serves as a reminder to be mindful of our actions and words, as they can have lasting impacts on our lives and the lives of others.