Plautus Quotes

Non optuma haec sunt neque ut ego aequom censeo : verum meliora sunt quam quae deterruma.

Oh, are not the pleasures in life, in this daily round, trifling compared with the pains!

You cannot eat your cake and have it too, unless you think your money is immortal. The fool too late, his substance eaten up, reckons the cost. (translator Thornton)

Non tibi illud apparere, si sumas, potest, nisi tu immortale rere esse argentum tibi. Sero atque stulte, prius quod cautum oportuit, postquam comedit rem, post rationem putat.

Nam multa praeter spem, scio, multis bona evenisse. At ego etiam qui speraverint, spem decepisse multos.

Satin parva res est voluptatum in vita atque in aetate agunda praequam quod molestum est?

The man that comforts a desponding friend with words alone, does nothing. He’s a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.

Male partum, male disperit.

You are seeking a knot in a bulrush.

Valour’s the best reward ; ‘tis valour that surpasses all things else : our liberty, our safety, life, estate, our parents, children, country, are by this preserved, protected : valour everything comprises in itself ; and every good awaits the man who is possess’d of valour. (translator Thornton)

Habeus ut nactus ; nota mala res optima’st.

Nihil est miserius, quam animus hominis conscius.

Qui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangat nucem.

Insperata accidunt magis saepe quam que speres.

A word to the wise is enough.