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Lucretius

Lucretius Quotes

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Famous Lucretius Quotes

“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.”

IfsMenWayWantLittlesReasonLevelsPowerfulStruggleDangerousOrdinaryFoundationSticksFortuneEnvyRichesStrikesPeacefulHonourLightningPeaceful LifePlacidSolid FoundationOpulenceTartarusHonour You
Book:De rerum natura
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“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. They have been accustomed to move and to meet in all manner of ways. For this reason, it came to pass that being spread abroad through a vast time and trying every sort of combination and motion, at length those come together that produce great things, like earth and sea and sky and the generation of living creatures.”

WayShouldTryingHas BeensReasonEarthTogetherMovingOrderGenerationsSeaSkyAtheismDesignProduceParticularCreaturesShould HaveWeightInfiniteBlowSpreadPositive AtheismGreat ThingsCombinationLengthAtomsAccustomedLiving CreaturesSea And SkyInfinite Time
Author:Lucretius
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“Fear in sooth holds so in check all mortals, becasue thay see many operations go on in earth and heaven, the causes of which they can in no way understand, believing them therefore to be done by power divine. for these reasons when we shall have seen that nothing can be produced from nothing, we shall then more correctly ascertain that which we are seeking, both the elements out of which every thing can be produced and the manner in which every thing can be produced in which all things are done without the hands of the gods.”

WayBelieveReasonDoneHandsEarthHeavenCausesDivineGoes OnElementsAll ThingsSeekingChecksMortalsOperations
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lucretius (Illustrated)
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“(On the temperature of water in wells) The reason why the water in wells becomes colder in summer is that the earth is then rarefied by the heat, and releases into the air all the heat-particles it happens to have. So, the more the earth is drained of heat, the colder becomes the moisture that is concealed in the ground. On the other hand, when all the earth condenses and contracts and congeals with the cold, then, of course, as it contracts, it squeezes out into the wells whatever heat it holds.”

WellsReasonHandsHappensEarthCoursesWaterAirColdSummerReleaseReason WhyHeatContractsParticlesTemperatureConcealedDrainedMoisture
Author:Lucretius
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