Plautus. c. 254-184 B.C. John Bartlett, comp. 1919. Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.

Reference > Quotations > John Bartlett, comp. > Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. > Plautus

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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Plautus. (c. 254–184 B.C.)

What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours. 1

Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 48. (329.)

Not by years but by disposition is wisdom acquired.

Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 88. (367.)

These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad.

Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 111. (392.)

He whom the gods favour dies in youth. 2

Bacchides. Act iv. Sc. 7, 18. (816.)

You are seeking a knot in a bulrush. 3

Menæchmi. Act ii. Sc. 1, 22. (247.)

In the one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread in the other. 4

Aulularia. Act ii. Sc. 2, 18. (195.)

I had a regular battle with the dunghill-cock.

Aulularia. Act iii. Sc. 4, 13. (472.)

It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand. 5

Aulularia. Act iv. Sc. 3, 1. (624.)

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

Captivi. Act ii. Sc. 2, 77. (327.)

Patience is the best remedy for every trouble. 6

Rudens. Act ii. Sc. 5, 71.

If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.

Rudens. Act iv. Sc. 7, 3. (1229.)

Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only. 7

Truculentus. Act iv. Sc. 4, 15. (868.)

Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need. 8

Epidicus. Act iii. Sc. 3, 44. (425.)

Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope. 9

Mostellaria. Act i. Sc. 3, 40. (197.)

To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.

Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 104. (791.)

Each man reaps on his own farm.

Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 112. (799.)

Note 1.
See Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Quotation 37. [back]

Note 2.
See Wordsworth, Quotation 148. [back]

Note 3.
A proverbial expression implying a desire to create doubts and difficulties where there really were none. It occurs in Terence, the “Andria,” act v. sc. 4, 38; also in Ennius, “Saturæ,” 46. [back]

Note 4.
What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?—Matthew vii. 9. [back]

Note 5.
See Gay, Quotation 21. [back]

Note 6.
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 170. [back]

Note 7.
See Chaucer, Quotation 30. [back]

Note 8.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.—Hazlitt: English Proverbs. [back]

Note 9.
The unexpected always happens.—A common proverb. [back]

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · AUTHOR INDEX · CONCORDANCE INDEX

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