Titus Lucretius Carus
Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC), Lucretius in short, was a Roman poet of whose personal history nothing is known, only that he was the author of a poem entitled "De Rerum Naturâ" , literally "On the nature of the Universe", a philosophic, didactic composition in six books, in which he expounds the atomic theory of Leucippus, and the philosophy of Epicurus. The philosophy of the work commends itself only to the atheist and the materialist, but the style is the admiration of all scholars, and has ensured its translation into most modern languages. De Rerum Natura is considered by some to be the greatest masterpiece of Latin verse. According to St Jerome, he was driven mad by a love philtre, wrote poetry in his lucid intervals, and died by his own hand, leaving his poem to be edited posthumously by Cicero.Wisdom and Quotes
- Nothing can be created out of nothing.
— De Rerum Natura
- A thing therefore never returns to nothing.
— De Rerum Natura
- What is food to one is to another bitter poison.
— De Rerum Natura
- The generations of living things pass in a short time, and like runners hand on the torch of life.
— De Rerum Natura
- Life is one long struggle in the dark.
— De Rerum Natura
- Love is a product of habit.
— De Rerum Natura
- Victory puts us on a level with heaven.
— De Rerum Natura
- Again and again our foe, religion, has given birth to deeds sinful and unholy.
— De Rerum Natura
- So potent was Religion in persuading to do wrong.
— De Rerum Natura
- Nothing is ever gotten out of nothing by divine power.
— De Rerum Natura
- The first-beginnings of things cannot be seen by the eyes.
— De Rerum Natura
- The steady drip of water causes stone to hollow and yield.
— De Rerum Natura
- Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.
— De Rerum Natura
- O pitiable minds of men, O blind intelligences! In what gloom of life, in how great perils is passed all your poor span of time! not to see that all nature barks for is this, that pain be removed away out of the body, and that the mind, kept away from care and fear, enjoy a feeling of delight!
— De Rerum Natura
- So far as it goes, a small thing may give an analogy of great things, and show the tracks of knowledge.
— De Rerum Natura
- Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.
— De Rerum Natura
- Cease therefore to be dismayed by the mere novelty and so to reject reason from your mind with loathing: weigh the questions rather with keen judgment and if they seem to you to be true, surrender, or if the thing is false, gird yourself to the encounter.
— De Rerum Natura
- So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.
— De Rerum Natura
- By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.
— De Rerum Natura
- In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.
— De Rerum Natura
- To avoid falling into the toils of love is not so hard as, after you are caught, to get out of the nets you are in and to break through the strong meshes of Venus.
— De Rerum Natura
- But if one should guide his life by true principles, man's greatest riches is to live on a little with contented mind; for a little is never lacking.
— De Rerum Natura
- Violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things, and generally return upon him who began.
— De Rerum Natura
- So rolling time changes the seasons of things. What was of value, becomes in turn of no worth.
— De Rerum Natura
Gaius Valerius Catullus