Plautus Quotes (-254--184)

Playwright

About Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC – 184 BC), born at Sarsina, Emilia-Romagna, was a comic playwright in the time of the Roman Republic. The years of his life are uncertain, but his plays were first produced between about 205 BC and 184 BC.

Best Plautus Quotes

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Plautus quotes.

β€œVicti vicimus”
β€œVincite virtute vera.”
β€œEach man reaps on his own farm.”
β€œYou are seeking a knot in a bulrush.”
β€œMale partum, male disperit.”
β€œo Libane, uti miser est homo qui amat!”
β€œNe male loquare absenti amico.”
β€œNulli est homini perpetuum bonum.”
β€œQuem di diligunt, adulescens moritur”
β€œNecesse est facere sumptum qui quaerit lucrum.”
β€œAmor et melle et felle est faecundissimus.”
β€œTo blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.”
Plautus
β€œfortiter malum qui patitur, idem post patitur bonum.”
β€œBonus animus in mala re, dimidium est mali.”
β€œQui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangat nucem.”
β€œHabeus ut nactus ; nota mala res optima’st.”
β€œQuid opust verbis? facta est pugna in gallo gallinacio.”
β€œFeliciter is sapit, qui alieno periculo sapit.”
β€œNon aetate, verum ingenio apiscitur sapientia.”
β€œBibite ! pergraecamini ! Este ! effercite vos !”
β€œnon tu scis? quae amanti parcet, eadem sibi parcet parum.”
β€œNon temere est quod corvos cantat mihi nunc ab laeva manu”
β€œEgo verum amo, verum vol mihi dici : mendacem odi.”
β€œQuasi piscis itidem est amator lenae: nequam est nisi recens.”
β€œQuod tuum’st, meum’st; omne meum est autem tuum.”

Plautus Quotes by Topic

Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Plautus quotes by topic.

Plautus on Love 4 quotes

β€œAuro contra cedo modestum amatorem. Find me a reasonable lover against his weight in gold.”
Plautus
View all 4 quotes on Love →

Plautus on Deity

β€œKeep what goods the Gods provide you.”
Plautus

Plautus on Ownership

β€œWhat is yours is mine, and all mine is yours.”
Plautus

Plautus on Guilt

β€œNothing is more wretched than a guilty conscience.”
Plautus

Plautus on Wolves

β€œLupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit.”
Plautus

Plautus on Stone

β€œIn one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread with the other.”
Plautus

Plautus on Witnesses

β€œOne eye-witness weighs more than ten hearsays β€” Seeing is believing all the world over.”
Plautus

Plautus on Mice

β€œConsider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only.”
Plautus

Plautus on Epitaphs

β€œPostquam est mortem aptus Plautus: comΕ“dia luget Scena deserta, dein risus ludus jocusque Et numeri innumeri simul omnes collacrumarunt.”
Plautus

Plautus on Death

β€œQuem dii diligunt, Adolescens moritur, dum valet, sentit, sapit. He whom the gods love dies young, whilst he is full of health, perception, and judgment.”
Plautus

Plautus on Defamation

β€œFor enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took its rise. * * * The scandal of men is everlasting; even then does it survive when you would suppose it to be dead.”
Plautus

Plautus on Ageing

β€œSenex cum extemplo est, jam nec sentit, nec sapit; Ajunt solere eum rursum repuerascere. When a man reaches the last stage of life,β€”without senses or mentalityβ€”they say that he has grown a child again.”
Plautus

About Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC – 184 BC), born at Sarsina, Emilia-Romagna, was a comic playwright in the time of the Roman Republic. The years of his life are uncertain, but his plays were first produced between about 205 BC and 184 BC.