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Tis easy to write epigrams nicely, but to write a book is hard.

Martial

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Martial
Epigrams
Nicely
Easy
Write
Book
Hard
Writing

More quotes by Martial

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The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved, in a tear of the sisters of Phaeton, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar. It has obtained a worthy reward for its great toils we may suppose that the bee itself would have desired such a death.
Martial
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I do not like the man who squanders life for fame give me the man who living makes a name. [Lat., Nolo virum facili redimit qui sanquine famam Hunc volo laudari qui sine morte potest.]
Martial
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Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
Martial
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Wine and women bring misery.
Martial
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Life consists not merely in existing, but in enjoying health.
Martial
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You should not fear, nor yet should you wish for your last day.
Martial
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When your crowd of attendants so loudly applaud you, Pomponius, it is not you, but your banquet, that is eloquent.
Martial
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You praise, in three hundred verses, Sabellus, the baths of Ponticus, who gives such excellent dinners. You wish to dine, Sabellus, not to bathe.
Martial
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Rarity gives a charm so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door always open tempts no suitor.
Martial
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You're obstinate, pliant, merry, morose, all at once. For me there's no living with you, or without you.
Martial
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The present joys of life we doubly taste, By looking back with pleasure to the past.
Martial
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Be not too thick with anybody your joys will be fewer, and so will pains.
Martial
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If you have any shame, forbear to pluck the beard of a dead lion.
Martial
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The African lions rush to attack bulls they do not attack butterflies. [Lat., In tauros Libyci ruunt leones Non sunt papilionibus molesti.]
Martial
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Gifts are like hooks.
Martial
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There is nothing more revolting than an old busybody.
Martial
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He who thinks that the lives of Priam and of Nestor were long is much deceived and mistaken. Life consists not in living, but in enjoying health.
Martial
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That which prevents disagreeable flies from feeding on your repast, was once the proud tail of a splendid bird.
Martial
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I have granted you much that you asked: and yet you never cease to ask of me. He who refuses nothing, Atticilla, will soon have nothing to refuse.
Martial
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I believe that man to be wretched whom none can please.
Martial