Juvenal quotes
Juvenal: Roman satirical poet. The library holds 154 quotes by Juvenal, drawn from Satire, Of a pettish woman, On the effects of religious contention between neighbours and other works. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, money, grief, nature, faith, family
The best-known Juvenal quotes
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No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.
Satire ii. 83 -
A poet of superior merit, whose vein is of no vulgar kind, who never winds off anything trite, nor coins a trivial poem at the public mint, I cannot describe, but only recognise as a man whose soul is free from all anxiety.
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We deem those happy who, from their experience of life, have learned to bear its ills without descanting on the burden.
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The gods will give what is most suitable rather than what is most pleasing; man is dearer to them than he is to himself.
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He never exerted his arms against the torrent, nor was he a citizen who would frankly utter the sentiments of his mind, and stake his life for the truth.
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Though she is aflame herself, she delights in the torments of her lover.
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He is not made thin by Venus’ quiver, nor does he burn with her torch; it is from this that his fires are fed, from her dowry the arrows come.
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The entire flock in the fields dies of the disease introduced by one.
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When great impudence comes to the help of a bad cause, it is taken by many for honest confidence.
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All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price.
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No other protection is wanting, provided you are under the guidance of prudence.
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What a glutton is he who has whole boars served up for him, an animal created for banquets alone.
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Death alone discloses how insignificant are the puny bodies of us men.
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One man receives crucifixion as the reward of his villainy; another a regal crown.
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A verbose and haughty epistle came from Capreae (the Emperor Tiberius’s palace).
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After donning the helmet it is too late to repent of war, i.e., after enlistment.
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Many commit the same crimes with a different destiny; one bears a cross as the price of his villany, another wears a crown.
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For who would embrace virtue herself if you took away the reward?
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There are very many things that men, when their cloaks have got holes in them, dare not say.
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Such penalties does the mere intention to sin suffer; for he who meditates any secret wickedness within himself incurs the guilt of the deed.
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The penniless traveller will sing in presence of the robber.
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A wife who has no children makes (to her husband’s heirs) a dear and engaging friend.
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Are you marrying a wife, Posthumous? By what Fury, say, by what snakes are you driven mad?
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All things must be in Greek! when it is more shameful for our Romans to be ignorant of Latin.
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I cannot, Romans, endure a Grecian city, i.e., Greek or effeminate manners in stern old Rome.
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Let nothing filthy to be said or seen touch this threshold, within which there is a boy.
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He who wishes to become rich, is desirous of becoming so at once.
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It is a wretched thing to lean for support on the reputation of others, lest the roof should fall in ruins when the pillars are withdrawn.
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But revenge is a blessing sweeter than life itself; so rude men feel.
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The bellowing of the labyrinth (a threadbare theme among weak poets).
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For vice deceives under an appearance and shadow of virtue when it is subdued in manner and severe in countenance and dress.
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Though distressed at the departure of my old friend, yet I commend him for going.
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Be, as many now are, rich to yourself, poor to your friends.
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We are all easily taught to imitate what is base and depraved.
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Pray for a strong soul free from the fear of death, which regards the final period of life among the gifts of Nature.
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He who wishes to become rich wishes to become so quickly too.
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The traveller with an empty purse sings in the face of the robber.
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A bird rarely seen on earth, and very much resembling a black swan.
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In all the lands which stretch from Gades even to the region of the dawn and the Ganges, there are few who are able by removing the mist of error to distinguish between what is really good and what is widely diverse.
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They wish to know of the family secrets, and so to be feared.
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Now we suffer the evils of long peace; luxury more cruel than war broods over us and avenges a conquered world.
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Let us dismiss excessive laments; a man’s grief should not be immoderate, nor greater than the wound received.
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What boots it, Ponticus, to be accounted of a long line, and to display the painted busts of our ancestors?
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A man should know his own measure, and have regard to it in the smallest matters as well as the greatest.
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The credit of every man is in proportion to the number of coins he keeps in his chest.
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He is now stretching out his foolish head to the matrimonial halter.
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The thirst for fame is greater than that for virtue; for, if you take away its reward, who would embrace virtue?
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Unhappy poverty has nothing in it more galling than this, that it makes men ridiculous.
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To many a torrent flow of speech and their own eloquence is fatal.
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They seldom speak, and have a great conceit of holding their tongues.
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To gratify the palate is the sole object of their existence.
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Money is bewailed with a greater tumult than death. No one feigns grief in this case… The loss of money is deplored with true tears.
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Consider it to be the height of impiety to prefer life to honour, and, for the sake of merely living, to sacrifice the objects of living.
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Meantime they search for relishes through all the elements, with minds regardless of expense; look at it closely, those things please more which cost the higher price.
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Revenge is ever the delight of a stinted and weak and petty mind.
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With tears always in abundance, and always ready at their station, and awaiting her signal to flow as she bids them.
Of a pettish woman -
Require him as with his thumb to mould their youthful morals, just as one fashions a face with plastic wax.
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One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers a diadem upon another.
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Sicilian tyrants invented nothing that is a greater torment than envy.
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A moment of smiling fortune is of more avail (to a soldier) than if he were recommended to Mars by an epistle from Venus.
Where these quotes come from
- Satire (2 quotes)
- Of a pettish woman (1 quote)
- On the effects of religious contention between neighbours (1 quote)
- In mockery (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .