Terence quotes
Terence (195 BC–159 BC): Roman comic playwright. The library holds 122 quotes by Terence, drawn from Eunuchus, Heautontimoroumenos, Adelphoe and other works. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, love, friendship, nature, age, knowledge
The best-known Terence quotes
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In fine, nothing is said now that has not been said before.
Eunuchus. The Prologue. 41 -
Strange to say,—I am the only one of my friends I can rely upon.
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It is the common vice of all, in old age, to be too intent upon our interests.
Adelphoe, Act v. Sc. 8, 30. (953.) -
It is possible that a man can be so changed by love, that one could not recognize him to be the same person.
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It is a father’s duty to accustom his son to act rightly of his own free-will rather than from fear of the consequences.
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You are a wise man if you can easily direct your attention to whatever may require it.
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Ready to rush to either extreme of lavish liberality or niggardly parsimony.
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This is a wise maxim, “to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage.”
Heautontimoroumenos, Act i. Sc. 2, 36. (210.) -
If you require reason to make that certain which is uncertain, you are simply attempting to go mad by the rules of reason.
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Wisdom consists not in seeing what is directly before us, but in discerning those things which may come to pass.
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I would have you to look into the lives of all, as into a mirror, and draw from others an example for yourself.
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I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.
Eunuchus, Act v. Sc. 7, 4. (1028.) -
It is the duty of all persons, when affairs are the most prosperous, then in especial to reflect within themselves in what way they are to endure adversity.
Phormio, Act ii. Sc. 1, 11. (241.) -
This extreme licentiousness will assuredly develop into some dire disaster.
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There is a class of men who wish to be first in everything, and are not.
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This I consider to be a valuable principle in life, not to do anything in excess.
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It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends.
Adelphoe, Act v. Sc. 3, 18. (803.) -
How many things, just and unjust, have no higher sanction than custom!
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This and a great deal more like it I have had to put up with.
Eunuchus, Act iv. Sc. 6, 8. (746.) -
That is a true proverb which is wont to be commonly quoted, that “all had rather it were well for themselves than for another.”
Andria, Act ii. Sc. 5, 15. (426.) -
I have learned by experience that nothing is more advantageous to a man than complaisance and clemency of temper.
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It is a fault common to us all, that in old age we become too much attached to worldly interests.
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Nothing so unjust as your ignorant man, who thinks nothing right but what he himself has done.
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Jupiter, now assuredly is the time when I could readily consent to be slain, lest life should sully this ecstasy with some disaster.
Eunuchus, Act iii. Sc. 5, 2. (550.) -
While the mind is in suspense, a very little sways it one way or other.
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That saying which I hear commonly repeated,—that time assuages sorrow.
Heautontimoroumenos, Act iii. Sc. 1, 12. (421.) -
If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.
Eunuchus, Act i. Sc. 2, 96. (176.) -
Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.
Heautontimoroumenos, Act iv. Sc. 2, 8. (675.) -
You are always singing the same tune, i.e., harping on one theme.
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Better or worse, for good or for harm, they see nothing but what they please.
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We can all, when we are well, easily give good advice to the sick.
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When the mind is in a state of uncertainty, the smallest impulse directs it to either side.
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There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.
Heautontimoroumenos, Act iv. Sc. 6, 1. (805.) -
Really, you have seen the old age of an eagle, as the saying is.
Heautontimoroumenos, Act iii. Sc. 2, 9. (520.) -
That is wisdom, not merely to see what is immediately before one’s eyes, but to forecast what is going to happen.
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I take it to be a principal rule of life not to be too much addicted to any one thing.
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A man can be so changed by love as to be unrecognisable as the same person.
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He who has made it a practice to lie to or deceive his father, the more daring will he be in deceiving others.
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All those whose affairs are unprosperous are, somehow or other, extremely suspicious; they take every hint as an affront, and think the neglect with which they are treated is due to their humble position.
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It is true they say I have caught a wolf by the ears; for I know not either how to get rid of him or keep him in restraint.
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To despise money on proper occasions is sometimes a very great gain.
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All these inconveniences are incidents to love: reproaches, jealousies, quarrels, reconcilements, war, and then peace.
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Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?
Andria. The Prologue. 17 -
It becomes a wise man to try all methods before having recourse to arms.
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Obsequiousness procures us friends; speaking the truth, enemies.
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Human nature is so constituted that all see and judge better in the affairs of other men than in their own.
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I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.
Eunuchus, Act ii. Sc. 2, 12. (243.) -
How many things, both just and unjust, are sanctioned by custom!
Heautontimoroumenos, Act iv. Sc. 7, 11. (839.) -
Many a time,… from a bad beginning great friendships have sprung up.
Eunuchus, Act v. Sc. 2, 34. (873.) -
These things are exactly according to the disposition of him who possesses them. To him who knows how to use them, they are blessings; to him who does not use them aright, they are evils.
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Seek rather to make a man blush for his guilt than to shed his blood.
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Immortal gods! how much does one man excel another! What a difference there is between a wise person and a fool!
Eunuchus, Act ii. Sc. 2, 1. (232.) -
Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus will starve to death, i.e., without sustenance and good cheer, love can’t last.
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Many a time a man cannot be such as he would be, if circumstances do not admit of it.
Heautontimoroumenos, Act iv. Sc. 1, 53. (666.) -
He who indulges in liberty of speech, will hear things in return which he will not like.
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He is wrong who thinks that authority based on force is more weighty and more lasting than that which rests on kindness.
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I do not purchase hope with money, i.e., I do not spend my resources upon vain hopes.
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I am a plain man, and no Oedipus (who solved the riddle of the Sphinx).
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I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me.
Heautontimoroumenos, Act i. Sc. 1, 25. (77.) -
How unjust is the fate which ordains that those who have least should be always adding to the store of the more wealthy!
Where these quotes come from
- Eunuchus (14 quotes)
- Heautontimoroumenos (10 quotes)
- Adelphoe (5 quotes)
- Phormio (4 quotes)
- Andria (4 quotes)
- Eunuchus. The Prologue (1 quote)
- Andria. The Prologue (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .