Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
Genuine
Yes. In 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”.
Found word for word by program in the Latin original and in William Ellery Leonard’s English translation (1916).
- Work
- On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura), 55 BC
- Where
- 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”
- Found at
- Paragraph 8 of the Latin text, 9 of the English
- Translation
- William Ellery Leonard, 1916
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
[…] Then be it ours with steady mind to clasp The purport of the skies—the law behind The wandering courses of the sun and moon; To scan the powers that speed all life below; But most to see with reasonable eyes Of what the mind, of what the soul is made, And what it is so terrible that breaks On us asleep, or waking in disease, Until we seem to mark and hear at hand Dead men whose bones earth bosomed long ago.
Nec me animi fallit Graiorum obscura reperta difficile inlustrare Latinis versibus esse, multa novis verbis praesertim cum sit agendum propter egestatem linguae et rerum novitatem; sed tua me virtus tamen et sperata voluptas suavis amicitiae quemvis efferre laborem suadet et inducit noctes vigilare serenas quaerentem dictis quibus et quo carmine demum clara tuae possim praepandere lumina menti, res quibus occultas penitus convisere possis.
This terror, then, this darkness of the mind, Not sunrise with its flaring spokes of light, Nor glittering arrows of morning can disperse, But only Nature’s aspect and her law, Which, teaching us, hath this exordium: Nothing from nothing ever yet was born. Fear holds dominion over mortality Only because, seeing in land and sky So much the cause whereof no wise they know, Men think Divinities are working there. Meantime, when once we know from nothing still Nothing can be create, we shall divine More clearly what we seek: those elements From which alone all things created are, And how accomplished by no tool of Gods. Suppose all sprang from all things: any kind Might take its origin from any thing, No fixed seed required. […]
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest non radii solis neque lucida tela diei discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque. Principium cuius hinc nobis exordia sumet, nullam rem e nihilo gigni divinitus umquam. quippe ita formido mortalis continet omnis, quod multa in terris fieri caeloque tuentur, quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre possunt ac fieri divino numine rentur. quas ob res ubi viderimus nil posse creari de nihilo, tum quod sequimur iam rectius inde perspiciemus, et unde queat res quaeque creari et quo quaeque modo fiant opera sine divom. […]
*****
Nec porro augendis rebus spatio foret usus seminis ad coitum, si e nilo crescere possent; nam fierent iuvenes subito ex infantibus parvis e terraque exorta repente arbusta salirent. quorum nil fieri manifestum est, omnia quando paulatim crescunt, ut par est semine certo, crescentesque genus servant; ut noscere possis quicque sua de materia grandescere alique. […]
And now, since I have taught that things cannot Be born from nothing, nor the same, when born, To nothing be recalled, doubt not my words, Because our eyes no primal germs perceive; For mark those bodies which, though known to be In this our world, are yet invisible: The winds infuriate lash our face and frame, Unseen, and swamp huge ships and rend the clouds, Or, eddying wildly down, bestrew the plains With mighty trees, or scour the mountain tops With forest-crackling blasts. […]
nil igitur fieri de nilo posse fatendumst, semine quando opus est rebus, quo quaeque creatae aeris in teneras possint proferrier auras. […]
The scene
The first principle of the poem’s physics. Lucretius has said that the terror and darkness of the mind can be dispelled only by understanding nature; he now states where that understanding begins: nothing is ever born from nothing by the power of the gods. People fear because they see things happen in the earth and sky whose causes they cannot see, and so put them down to the gods. A run of proofs follows: if things could come from nothing, any kind could spring from any other and nothing would need a seed.
What it means
Nothing comes into being out of nothing, and no god makes it so: everything is formed from matter that already exists. Lucretius offers this as the cure for superstitious fear.
Often misread
Often quoted without one word: the Latin says nothing is ever born from nothing ‘divinitus’, by divine power. It is the opening move of an argument against divine creation and fear of the gods, not only a law of physics. It is also often given in the scholastic Latin formula ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’, which is not Lucretius’ wording. Leonard’s translation, too, leaves ‘divinitus’ out of I.150. The usual English wording is Cyril Bailey’s translation (1910), in copyright in the UK and the EU (he died in 1957), so it is not stored here.
Also shared as
- ShortenedNil posse creari de nihilo. The words of I.156–157 cut out of their clause. Where it was seen
- Another public-domain translationNothing can be produced from nothing. H. A. J. Munro’s translation of I.156–157 (1864). Where it was seen
- Another public-domain translationNothing is ever gotten out of nothing by divine power. Munro’s translation of I.150, which keeps ‘divinitus’ (by divine power), the word usually dropped. Where it was seen
- A misquotationEx nihilo nihil fit. The later Latin formula of the principle, often credited to Lucretius; it is not in the poem, which says “nil posse creari de nihilo” and “nullam rem e nihilo gigni”.
Before and after
Topics
Related quotes
- If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it. Marcus Aurelius
- All economic movements, by their very nature, are motivated by crowd psychology. Bernard Baruch
- Natural justice is a symbol or expression of expediency, to prevent one man from harming or being harmed by another. Epicurus
- The only way to have a friend is to be one. Ralph Waldo Emerson
- The safety of the people shall be the highest law. Marcus Tullius Cicero
Sources
Cite it
Lucretius, 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”, translated by William Ellery Leonard (1916). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/nothing-can-be-created-out-of-nothing/ (31 October 2026).
Have a different wording, or a source we missed? Check it or submit it.
Do you hold the rights to anything on this page? Tell us.
Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
Comments