Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Plautus, full name Titus Maccius Plautus NULL

Roman Comic Playwright

"Man is not man, but a wolf to those he does not know."

"No blessing lasts forever."

"No guest is so welcome in a friend's house that he will not become a nuisance after three days."

"No man is wise enough by himself."

"No man will be respected by others who is despised by his own relatives."

"Not every age is fit for childish sports."

"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend."

"Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt."

"Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need."

"One eye witness is better than ten hear sayers."

"One’s oldest friend is the best."

"Our wishes come true through the work that we do."

"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble."

"Slander-mongers and those who listen to slander, if I had my way, would all be strung up, the talkers by the tongue, the listeners by the ears."

"Some things are easier said than done."

"That man is wise to some purpose who gains his wisdom at the expense and form the experience of another."

"The evil that we know is best."

"Practice yourself what you preach."

"The greatest talents often lie buried out of sight."

"The mind is hopeful; success is in God’s hands. (Man proposes, God disposes)."

"The poor man who enters into a partnership with one who is rich makes a risky venture."

"There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain"

"Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope."

"Those men who carry about and who listen to accusations should all be hanged, if so it could be a my decision - the carriers by their tongues, the listeners by their ears."

"Where there are friends there is wealth."

"Wisdom is not attained by years, but by ability."

"You must spend money to make money."

"Your wealth is where your friends are."

"A craft can only have meaning when it serves a spiritual way."

"A friend is one who aids with deeds at a critical time when deeds are called for."

"A good disposition I far prefer to gold; for gold is the gift of fortune; goodness of disposition is the gift of nature. I prefer much rather to be called good than fortunate."

"A man is a wolf rather than a man to another man, when he hasn't yet found out what he's like."

"A mouse does not rely on just one hole."

"A patient mind is the best remedy for trouble."

"A sentence is enough for a sensible man."

"A woman finds it much easier to do ill than well."

"A woman smells well when she smells of nothing"

"A word to the wise! Keep what the Gods have given you."

"According as men thrive, their friends are true; if fortune fails, friends likewise disappear. Prosperity finds friends."

"According as men thrive, their friends are true; if their affairs go to wreck, their friends sink with them. Fortune finds friends."

"After all, what is money apart from what it can buy?"

"All good men and women should be on their guard to avoid guilt, and even the suspicion of it."

"Always bring money along with your complaints."

"And so he thinks to ?tice me like a dog, by holding bread in one hand, and a stone, ready to knock my brains out, in the other."

"And so it happens oft in many instances; more good is done without our knowledge than by us intended."

"Are you not accustomed to look at home, when you abuse others?"

"As long as she is wise and good, a girl has sufficient dowry."

"Because those, who twit others with their faults, should look at home."

"Besides that, when elsewhere the harvest of wheat is most abundant, there it comes up less by one-fourth than what you have sowed. There, methinks, it were a proper place for men to sow their wild oats, where they would not spring up."

"But ne?ertheless reflect, the little mouse, how sage a brute it is! Who never trusts its safety to one hole: for when it finds one entrance is block?d up, it has secure some other outlet."