Plautus Quotes

Out of many evils the evil which is least is the least of evils. [Lat., E malis multis, malum, quod minimum est, id minimum est malum.]

The Bell never rings of itself; unless some one handles or moves it it is dumb. [Lat., Nunquam aedepol temere tinniit tintinnabulum; Nisi quis illud tractat aut movet, mutum est, tacet.]

He who falls in love meets a worse fate than he who leaps from a rock.

Let not your expenditure exceed your income.

He who rushes headlong into love will fare worse than if he had cast himself from a precipice.

The gods confound the man who first found out How to distinguish hours! Confound him, too, Who in this place set up a sun-dial, To cut and hack my days so wretchedly Into small portions.

A well-balanced mind is the best remedy against affliction.

Know not what you know, and see not what you see. [Lat., Etiam illud quod scies nesciveris; Ne videris quod videris.]

I love truth and wish to have it always spoken to me: I hate a liar. [Lat., Ego verum amo, verum volo mihi dici; mendacem odi.]

There is indeed a God that hears and sees whate'er we do. [Lat., Est profecto deus, qui, quae nos gerimus, auditque et videt.]

How bitter it is to reap a harvest of evil for good that you have done! [Lat., Ut acerbum est, pro benefactis quom mali messem metas!]

Things we not hope for often come to pass than things we wish.

Wine is a cunning wrestler.

He who bravely endures evils, in time reaps the reward.

Badly gotten, badly spent. [Lat., Male partum, male disperit.]

Keep what you have got; the known evil is best. [Lat., Habeas ut nactus; nota mala res optima est.]

A woman smells well when she smells of nothing.

Always bring money along with your complaints.

I seek the utmost pleasure and the least pain.

It is a great plague to be too handsome a man. [Lat., Nimia est miseria nimis pulchrum esse hominem.]

Man is no man, but a wolf

Worthy things happen to the worthy.

It is only when we have lost them that we fully appreciate our blessings.

It is not without a purpose when a rich man greets a poor one with kindness.

You must spend money, if you wish to make money.

Vulgarity of manners defiles fine garments more than mud.

Laws are subordinate to custom.

That wife is an enemy to her husband who is given in marriage against her will.

Women have many faults, but the worst of them all is that they are too pleased with themselves and take too little pains to please the men.

To make any gain some outlay is necessary.

He who has in due season become rich, unless he saves in due season, will in due season starve.

There can be no profit, if the outlay exceeds it. [Non enim potest quaestus consistere, si eum sumptus superat.]

It is best to know the worst at once.

To ask that which is unjust at the hands of the just, is an injustice in itself; to expect that which is just from the unjust, is simple folly.

Know this, that troubles come swifter than the things we desire.

If you want to do something, do it!

That man will never be unwelcome to others who makes himself agreeable to his own family.

The gods play games with men as balls.

The fool too late, his substance eaten up, reckons the cost.

Ah yes, the gods use us mortals as footballs!

The gods give that man some profit to whom they are propitious. [Lat., Cui homini dii propitii sunt aliquid objiciunt lucri.]

He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.

When you fly from temptation, don't leave a forwarding address. Where there's smoke there's fire.

You drown him by your talk.

Man is not man, but a wolf to those he does not know.

No man has perpetual good fortune. [Lat., Nulli est homini perpetuum bonum.]

The evil that we know is best.

How great in number are the little minded men

I've seen many men avoid the region of good advice before they were really near it.

He who accuses another of wrong should look well into his own conduct.