Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Pliny the Elder (Roman Scholar)

Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE,) fully Gaius Plinius Secundus, was a Roman statesman and scholar. His Naturalis Historia (Natural History) is a vast encyclopedia of the natural and human worlds. He died while observing the eruption of Vesuvius.

Born to a wealthy family at Novum Comum (Como,) Pliny was educated in Rome. At the age of 23, he began a military career by serving in Germany, rising to the cavalry commander’s rank. He returned to Rome, where he possibly studied law, withdrew to Como, and devoted himself to reading and authorship. Upon the accession in 69 CE of Vespasian, with whom Pliny had served in Germany, he returned to Rome and assumed various official positions.

In 79 CE, Pliny was in command of the Roman fleet in the Bay of Naples when the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius was at its height. Eager to witness the phenomenon as closely as possible, he landed at Stabiae (Castellammare.) He died from the fumes resulting from volcanic activity.

Pliny’s Historia Naturalis is the only extant of the seven writings that are ascribed to him. Divided into 37 Libri, or “books,” it was completed, except for final changes, in 77 CE. Under that title, the ancients classified everything of natural or non-artificial origin. Pliny adds digressions on human inventions and institutions, devoting two books to a history of fine art.

Natural History was one of the most significant literary monuments of classical antiquity. The book became a substitute for general education during the European Middle Ages. His authority was unchallenged until the late 15th century, partly because of a lack of more reliable information and partly because his assertions were not and, in many cases, could not be tested.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Pliny the Elder

The master’s eye is the best fertilizer.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Farming

Wine maketh the hand quivering, the eye watery, the night unquiet, lewd dreams, a stinking breath in the morning, and an utter forgetfulness of all things.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Wine

Lust is an enemy to the purse, a foe to the person, a canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter of the senses, and, finally, a mortal bane to all the body.
—Pliny the Elder

The waters deluge man with rain, oppress him with hail, and drown him with inundations; the air rushes in storms, prepares the tempest, or lights up the volcano; but the earth, gentle and indulgent, ever subservient to the wants of man, spreads his walks with flowers, and his table with plenty; returns, with interest, every good committed to her care; and though she produces the poison, she still supplies the antidote; though constantly teased more to furnish the luxuries of man than his necessities, yet even to the last she continues her kind indulgence, and, when life is over, she piously covers his remains in her bosom.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Earth

There is no book so bad but something valuable may be derived from it.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Books

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Adversity

Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Honor

The lust of avarice has so totally seized upon mankind that their wealth seems rather to possess them, than they to possess their wealth.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Wealth

The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Profit

Our youth and manhood are due to our country, but our declining years are due to ourselves.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Age

Never do anything concerning the rectitude of which you have a doubt.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Doubt

As in our lives, so also in our studies, it is most becoming and most wise to temper gravity with cheerfulness, that the former may not imbue our minds with melancholy, nor the latter degenerate into licentiousness.
—Pliny the Elder

Most men are afraid of a bad name, but few fear their consciences.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Conscience

In wine there is truth.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Alcohol, Wine

There is always something new out of Africa.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Nation, Nationality, Nations, Nationalism

No man possesses a genius so commanding that he can attain eminence, unless a subject suited to his talents should present itself, and an opportunity occur for their development.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Opportunity

He picked something valuable out of everything he read.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Reading

I would have a man generous to his country, his neighbors, his kindred, his friends, and most of all his poor friends. Not like some who are most lavish with those who are able to give most to them.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Generosity

It is generally much more shameful to lose a good reputation than never to have acquired it.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Reputation

The great business of man is to improve his mind, and govern his manners; all other projects and pursuits, whether in our power to compass or not, are only amusements.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Mind

No man’s abilities are so remarkably shining as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Opportunities

As in a man’s life, so in his studies, it is the most beautiful and humane thing in the world so to mingle gravity with pleasure, that the one may not sink into melancholy, nor the other rise up into wantonness.
—Pliny the Elder

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Certainty, Doubt, Uncertainty

Envy always implies conscious inferiority wherever it resides.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Envy

Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvelous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked up on as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Possibilities

The enjoyments of this life are not equal to its evils.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Life and Living

God has no power over the past except to cover it with oblivion.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Past

When a man is laboring under the pain of any distemper, it is then that he recollects there is a God, and that he himself is but a man. No mortal is then the object of his envy, his admiration, or his contempt; and, having no malice to gratify, the tales of slander excite him not.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Sickness

Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Belief

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read; and in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living in it.
—Pliny the Elder
Topics: Glory, Fame

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