Lucretius Quotes

Fear is the mother of all gods ... Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods.

So, little by little, time brings out each several thing into view, and reason raises it up into the shores of light.

Some species increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and, like runners, pass on the torch of life.

What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth.

There is so much wrong with the world. (tanta stat praedita culpa)

Long time men lay oppress'd with slavish fear Religion's tyranny did domineer ... At length a mighty one of Greece began To assert the natural liberty of man, By senseless terrors and vain fancies let To slavery. Straight the conquered phantoms fled.

The fall of dropping water wears away the Stone.

Even if I knew nothing of the atoms, I would venture to assert on the evidence of the celestial phenomena themselves, supported by many other arguments, that the universe was certainly not created for us by divine power: it is so full of imperfections.

So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.

The mind like a sick body can be healed and changed by medicine.

Out beyond our world there are, elsewhere, other assemblages of matter making other worlds. Ours is not the only one in air's embrace.

Human life lay foul before men's eyes, crushed to the dust beneath religion's weight.

And part of the soil is called to wash away In storms and streams shave close and gnaw the rocks. Besides, whatever the earth feeds and grows Is restored to earth. And since she surely is The womb of all things and their common grave, Earth must dwindle, you see and take on growth again.

Sweet it is, when on the high seas the winds are lashing the waters, to gaze from the land on another's struggles.

We, peopling the void air, make gods to whom we impute the ills we ought to bear.

Not they who reject the gods are profane, but those who accept them.

Gently touching with the charm of poetry.

Certainly it was no design of the atoms to place themselves in a particular order, nor did they decide what motions each should have. But atoms were struck with blows in many ways and carried along by their own weight from infinite times up to the present.

Do we not see all humans unaware Of what they want, and always searching everywhere, And changing place, as if to drop the load they bear?

The gods and their tranquil abodes appear, which no winds disturb, nor clouds bedew with showers, nor does the white snow, hardened by frost, annoy them; the heaven, always pure, is without clouds, and smiles with pleasant light diffused.

The sum of all sums is eternity.

The body searches for that which has injured the mind with love.

Thus the sum of things is ever being reviewed, and mortals dependent one upon another. Some nations increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and like runners pass on the torch of life.

One thing is made of another, and nature allows no new creation except at the price of death.

Such evil deeds could religion prompt.

We notice that the mind grows with the body, and with it decays.

Only religion can lead to such evil.

... deprived of pain, and also deprived of danger, able to do what it wants, [Nature] does not need us, nor understands our deserts, and it cannot be angry.