Those things that are in the light we behold from darkness. Lucretius More Quotes by Lucretius More Quotes From Lucretius Anything made out of destructible matter Infinite time would have devoured before. But if the atoms that make and replenish the world Have endured through the immense span of the past Their natures are immortal-that is clear. Never can things revert to nothingness! Lucretius infinite-time science past If the matter of death is reduced to sleep and rest, what can there be so bitter in it, that any one should pine in eternal grief for the decease of a friend? Lucretius grief matter sleep Meantime, when once we know from nothing still Lucretius elements tools divine Nay, the greatest wits and poets, too, cease to live; Lucretius forgotten sleep death 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. Lucretius venture atoms imperfection 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. Lucretius atheism men long Violence and wrong enclose all who commit them in their meshes and do mostly recoil on him from whom they begin. Lucretius recoil mesh violence ...Nature allows Lucretius inward cells blow To none is life given in freehold; to all on lease. Lucretius lease given life In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers. Lucretius bitterness flower literature We, peopling the void air, make gods to whom we impute the ills we ought to bear. Lucretius void air bears The old must always make way for the new, and one thing must be built out of the ruins of another. There is no murky pit of hell awaiting anyone. Lucretius ruins pits way Mother of Aeneas, pleasure of men and gods. -Aeneadum genetrix, hominum divomque voluptas Lucretius aeneas mother men It's easier to avoid the snares of love than to escape once you are in that net. Lucretius snares easier But if anyone were to conduct his life by reason He would find great riches in living a peaceful life And being contented; one is never short of a little But men want always to be powerful and famous So that their fortune rests on a solid foundation And they can spend a placid life in opulence. There isn't a hope of it; to attain great honours You have to struggle along a dangerous way And even when you reach the top there is envy Which can strike you down like lightning into Tartarus. For envy, like lightning, generally strikes at the top Or any point which sticks out from the ordinary level. Lucretius powerful struggle men There can be no centre Lucretius centre infinity Many animals even now spring out of the soil, Coalescing from the rains and the heat of the sun. Small wonder, then, if more and bigger creatures, Full-formed, arose from the new young earth and sky. The breed, for instance, of the dappled birds Shucked off their eggshells in the springtime, as Crickets in summer will slip their slight cocoons All by themselves, and search for food and life. Earth gave you, then, the first of mortal kinds, For all the fields were soaked with warmth and moisture. Lucretius summer spring life Tis pleasant to stand on shore and watch others labouring in a stormy sea. Lucretius shore sea watches Gently touching with the charm of poetry. Lucretius charm touching poetry Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care? Lucretius calm-mind care guests
