The swan murmurs sweet strains with a flattering tongue, itself the singer of its own dirge.

All your female friends are either old or ugly; nay, more ugly than old women usually are. These you lead about in your train, and drag with you to feasts, porticos and theaters. Thus, Fabulla, you seem handsome, thus you seem young.

If you have any shame, forbear to pluck the beard of a dead lion.

Do you ask what sort of a maid I desire or dislike, Flaccus? I dislike one too easy and one too coy. The just mean, which lies between the two extremes, is what I approve; I like neither that which tortures nor that which cloys.

Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well.

Tis easy to write epigrams nicely, but to write a book is hard.

Life is not living, but living in health.