"The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"All men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents; and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It is far from easy to determine whether she [Nature] has proved to him a kind parent or a merciless stepmother."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill,--the same that are still known as the Quintian Meadows,--when the messenger brought him the dictatorship, finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The bird of passage known to us as the cuckoo."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or little more, are so fashioned that among so many thousands of men there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Bears when first born are shapeless masses of white flesh a little larger than mice, their claws alone being prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper shape."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs. . . . A bad bargain is always a ground for repentance."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvellous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?"

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Everything is soothed by oil, and this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smooths every part which is rough."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?"

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in doubt."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"This expression of ours, "Father of a family.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"That indolent but agreeable condition of doing nothing."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The living voice is that which sways the soul."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye. . . . We put off from time to time going and seeing what we know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"His only fault is that he has no fault."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"There is nothing to write about, you say. Well, then, write and let me know just this,--that there is nothing to write about; or tell me in the good old style if you are well. That 's right. I am quite well."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Modestus said of Regulus that he was "the biggest rascal that walks upon two legs.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"He [Pliny the Elder] used to say that "no book was so bad but some good might be got out of it.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Zeno first started that doctrine that knavery is the best defence against a knave."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"When Alexander asked Diogenes whether he wanted anything, "Yes," said he, "I would have you stand from between me and the sun.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Cæsar, "Remember," said he, "Cæsar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Remember what Simonides said,--that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Cæsar said to the soothsayer, "The ides of March are come;" who answered him calmly, "Yes, they are come, but they are not past.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"Like the man who threw a stone at a bitch, but hit his step-mother, on which he exclaimed, "Not so bad!""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"The old proverb was now made good, "the mountain had brought forth a mouse.""

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain

"In his house he had a large looking-glass, before which he would stand and go through his exercises."

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed. (Little, Brown, 1905), public domain