Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher who lived during the 1st century AD. He was best known for his encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which covered the fields of natural history, botany, zoology, geography, and astronomy. He is also noted for his detailed accounts of Roman life and the natural disasters of his time.
What is the most famous quote by Pliny The Elder ?
Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.
— Pliny The Elder
What can you learn from Pliny The Elder (Life Lessons)
- Pliny the Elder taught that knowledge is power, emphasizing the importance of learning and understanding the world around us.
- He also emphasized the importance of living a life of virtue, believing that a life of integrity and honor is the most fulfilling.
- Finally, Pliny the Elder encouraged us to be humble and recognize our own mortality, teaching us to appreciate the beauty of life and make the most of our time here on earth.
The most cheerful Pliny The Elder quotes to get the best of your day
Following is a list of the best quotes, including various Pliny The Elder inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by Pliny The Elder.
It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth (In Vino Veritas).
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.

In wine, there's truth.
Why do we believe that in all matters the odd numbers are more powerful?
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.
In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.
From the end spring new beginnings.
Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great.
Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures.
Natural quotes by Pliny The Elder
In wine, there's truth.
There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald - all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil.
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.
There is, to be sure, no evil without something good.
Home is where the heart is.
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.
It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired 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.
Quotations by Pliny The Elder that are history and encyclopedia
There is always something new out of Africa.
As for the garden of mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes our spirits, as the taste stirs up our appetite for meat.
As touching peaches in general, the very name in Latine whereby they are called Persica, doth evidently show that they were brought out of Persia first.
When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.
The perverted ingenuity of man has given to water the power of intoxicating where wine is not procured. Western nations intoxicate themselves by moistened grain.
Nothing is more useful than wine for strengthening the body and also more detrimental to our pleasure if moderation be lacking.
There is no book so bad that some good can not be got out of it.
Truth comes out in wine.
The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
In these matters the only certainty is that there is nothing certain.
Lust is an enemy to the purse, a foe to the person, a canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter of the senses, and finally, a mortal bane to all the body.
As land is improved by sowing it with various seeds, so is the mind by exercising it with different studies.
Nature has given man no better thing than shortness of life.
Among these things, one thing seems certain - that nothing certain exists and that there is nothing more pitiful or more presumptuous than man.
....shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle.
The great business of man is to improve his mind, and govern his manners; all other projects and pursuits, whether in our power to compass or not, are only amusements.
Wine maketh the band quivering, the eye watery, the night unquiet, lewd dreams, a stinking breath in the morning, and an utter forgetfulness of all things.
The lust of avarice as so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them than they possess their wealth.
The most disgraceful cause of the scarcity [of remedies] is that even those who know them do not want to point them out, as if they were going to lose what they pass on to others.
The agricultural population produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers,46 and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs.
I think it is the most beautiful and humane thing in the world, so to mingle gravity with pleasure that the one may not sink into melancholy, nor the other rise up into wantonness.
There is alas no law against incompetency; no striking example is made. They learn by our bodily jeopardy and make experiments until the death of the patients, and the doctor is the only person not punished for murder.
...shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle. Indeed of the whole realm of Nature the sea is in many ways the most harmful to the stomach, with its great variety of dishes and tasty fish.
The happier the moment the shorter.
We neglect those things which are under our very eyes, and heedless of things within our grasp, pursue those which are afar off.
Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.
Most men are afraid of a bad name, but few fear their consciences.
It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line.
The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.
Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.
Their best and most wholesome feeding is upon one dish and no more and the same plaine and simple: for surely this hudling of many meats one upon another of divers tastes is pestiferous. But sundrie sauces are more dangerous than that.
As in our lives so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most wise, so to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into licentiousness.
Chance is a second master.