Lucretius
99–55 BC. Titus Lucretius Carus
9 genuine quotes, each found in the text, and 1 wrongly credited to Lucretius.
Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher of the late Republic (c. 99–c. 55 BC), of whose life almost nothing is known: both dates are uncertain and rest on late sources. His one work, the unfinished didactic poem De rerum natura, sets out Epicurus’ account of atoms, the void and the mortal soul in Latin hexameters, to free its reader from fear of the gods and of death. His lines circulate in English through many verse translations that word them very differently, and some are his versions of Epicurus’ sayings rather than thoughts of his own.
Genuine Lucretius quotes
- Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 149–154 and 156–158 (nullam rem e nihilo gigni, I.150; nil posse creari de nihilo, I.156–157; the Perseus text prints line 155 after 158); Leonard, Book I, “Substance Is Eternal”.
- So great the evils to which religion could prompt!
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 95–101 (the quoted line is I.101); Leonard, Book I, “Proem”.
- Death is nothing to us.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book III, lines 830–831; Leonard, Book III, “Folly of the Fear of Death”.
- What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book IV, lines 633–641 (the quoted line is IV.637); Leonard, Book IV, “The Senses and Mental Pictures”.
- Life is given to no one in freehold, but to all on loan.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book III, line 971; Leonard, Book III, “Folly of the Fear of Death”.
- It is sweet, when the winds stir the sea, to watch another’s great trouble from the land.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book II, lines 1–4; Leonard, Book II, opening.
- From the very fountain of delights rises something bitter that troubles us amid the flowers.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book IV, lines 1133–1134; Leonard, Book IV, “The Passion of Love”.
- Human life lay crushed beneath the weight of religion, until a Greek man dared to rise against it.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 62–67; Leonard, Book I, “Praise of Epicurus”.
- Nothing is sweeter than to dwell in the serene temples of the wise.
On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book II, lines 7–10; Leonard, Book II, opening.
Quotes wrongly credited to Lucretius
- All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.
Misattributed. No. It is not in Lucretius: it rewords Edward Gibbon’s remark, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), that Rome’s religions were thought equally true by the people, equally false by the philosopher and equally useful by the magistrate. It was credited to Lucretius by 1932.
Paraphrased: Lucretius’s thought, in other words
- Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
Paraphrase. The idea is in On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book I, lines 311–314 (stilicidi casus lapidem cavat, I.313); Leonard, Book I, “Substance Is Eternal”.
- Like runners, we hand on the torch of life.
Paraphrase. The idea is in On the Nature of Things (55 BC), Book II, lines 77–79; Leonard, Book II, “Eternal Motion of Atoms” (the passage on replenishment of the sum of things).
The works we hold
Quotes are looked up word for word in these texts. The number is how many genuine quotes here come from each.
| Work | Year | Genuine quotes |
|---|---|---|
| On the Nature of Things De rerum natura | 55 BC | 9 |