Lucretius Quotes
Titus Lucretius Carus was a 1st-century BC Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher, known for his sole surviving work, the long Latin poem De Rerum Natura, On the Nature of Things. Composed in six books of dactylic hexameter, the poem expounds Epicurean physics, atomism, the mortality of the soul, the gods' indifference to human affairs, and the path to a tranquil life through correct understanding of the natural world. The quotes below are attributed to Lucretius, organized by topic.
Browse Lucretius by topic
Lucretius on Death
-
Attributed to Lucretius:
“Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death is not, and when death is, we are not.”
Lucretius on God
-
Attributed to Lucretius:
“So great is the power of religion to incite to evil deeds.”
-
“The living force of his soul gained the day: on he passed far beyond the flaming walls of the world and traversed throughout in mind and spirit the immeasurable universe.”
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque. -
“Superstition is now in her turn cast down and trampled underfoot, whilst we by the victory are exalted high as heaven.”
Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo. -
“Again and again our foe, religion, has given birth to deeds sinful and unholy.”
Saepius illa religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.
Lucretius on Happiness
-
“Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's tribulation.”
Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem; non quia vexari quemquamst jucunda voluptas, sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.
Lucretius on Knowledge
-
“Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque.”
The living force of his soul gained the day: on he passed far beyond the flaming walls of the world and traversed throughout in mind and spirit the immeasurable universe. | Book I, lines 72–74 (tr. H. A. J. Munro); of Epicurus . -
“Book I, lines 72–74 (tr. H. A. J. Munro); of Epicurus .”
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque. -
“Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.”
Superstition is now in her turn cast down and trampled underfoot, whilst we by the victory are exalted high as heaven. | Book I, lines 78–79 (tr. W. H. D. Rouse) -
“Book I, lines 78–79 (tr. W. H. D. Rouse)”
Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo. -
“Saepius illa religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.”
Again and again our foe, religion, has given birth to deeds sinful and unholy. | Book I, lines 82–83 (tr. C. Bailey) -
“Book I, lines 82–83 (tr. C. Bailey)”
Saepius illa religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta. -
“Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.”
So potent was Religion in persuading to do wrong. | Book I, line 101 (tr. Alicia Stallings) | H. A. J. Munro's translation: So great the evils to which religion could prompt! | W. H. D. Rouse's translation: So potent was Superstition in persuading to evil deeds.
Lucretius on Life
-
“Life is one long struggle in the dark.”
Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret.
Lucretius on Mind
-
Attributed to Lucretius:
“The mind craves what it lacks, and ignores what it has.”
Lucretius on Nature
-
Attributed to Lucretius:
“From nothing, nothing comes.”
-
“What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.”
Ut quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum.
Lucretius on Time
-
Attributed to Lucretius:
“Constant dripping hollows out a stone.”
Things actually not said by Lucretius
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Lucretius but are in fact from someone else. Did Lucretius say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
-
Did Lucretius say this? No.
“All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Edward Gibbon. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: As quoted in What Great Men Think of Religion (1972 ) by Ira D. Cardiff, p. 245. Actually said by Edward Gibbon ː "The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equ