Top 200 Juvenal Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing, and it becomes chronic in their sick minds.”

— Juvenal

102. “Give up all hope of peace so long as your mother-in-law is alive.”

— Juvenal

103. “Nature and wisdom always say the same.”

— Juvenal

104. “Today there’s more fellowship among snakes than among mankind. Wild beasts spare those with similar markings.”

— Juvenal

105. “All things may be bought in Rome with money.”

— Juvenal

106. “When your armour is on, it is too late to retreat.”

— Juvenal

107. “Savage bears agree with one another.”

— Juvenal

108. “There is hardly a case in which the dispute was not caused by a woman.”

— Juvenal

109. “The man whose purse is empty can cheerfully sing before the robber.”

— Juvenal

110. “Nature confesses that she has bestowed on the human race hearts of softest mould, in that she has given us tears.”

— Juvenal

111. “The short bloom of our brief and narrow life flies fast away. While we are calling for flowers and wine and women, old age is upon us.”

— Juvenal

112. “Every crime will bring remorse to the man who committed it.”

— Juvenal

113. “Rare indulgence produces greater pleasure.”

— Juvenal

114. “All arts his own, the hungry Greekling counts; And bid him mount the skies, the skies he mounts.”

— Juvenal

115. “When talent fails, indignation writes the verse.”

— Juvenal

116. “The fisherman could perhaps be bought for less than the fish.”

— Juvenal

117. “Led on by impulse, and blind and ungovernable desires.”

— Juvenal

118. “Beasts of like kind will spare those of kindred spots.”

— Juvenal

119. “The tongue is the vile slave’s vilest part.”

— Juvenal

120. “To lay down one’s life for the truth.”

— Juvenal

121. “He who wants to get rich wants to get rich quickly.”

— Juvenal

122. “Two things only the people actually desire: bread and circuses.”

— Juvenal

123. “By his own verdict no guilty man was ever acquitted.”

— Juvenal

124. “The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses!”

— Juvenal

125. “It is a wretched thing to rest upon the fame of others, lest, the supporting pillar being removed, the superstructure should collapse in ruin.”

— Juvenal

126. “I will have this done, so I order it done; let my will replace reasoned judgement.”

— Juvenal

127. “Even savage animals can agree among themselves.”

— Juvenal

128. “Had we but wisdom, thou wouldst have no Divinity, O Fortune: it is we that make thee into a Goddess!”

— Juvenal

129. “The grape becomes tinted from the grape it comes in contact with.”

— Juvenal

130. “What is more cruel than a tyrant’s ear?”

— Juvenal

131. “The sweetest pleasures soonest cloy, And its best flavour temperance gives to joy.”

— Juvenal

132. “All wish to know, but few the price will pay.”

— Juvenal

133. “In the present state of the world it is difficult not to write lampoons.”

— Juvenal

134. “There is never a lawsuit but a woman is at the bottom of it.”

— Juvenal

135. “Death alone discloses how insignificant are the puny bodies of men.”

— Juvenal

136. “Of what avail are pedigrees?”

— Juvenal

137. “Virture offers the only path in this life that leads to tranquility.”

— Juvenal

138. “The face, not the woman is the attraction.”

— Juvenal

139. “They whose sole bliss is eating can give but that one brutish reason why they live.”

— Juvenal

140. “Wisdom overcomes fortune.”

— Juvenal

141. “No one rejoices more in revenge than woman.”

— Juvenal

142. “Every great house is full of haughty servants.”

— Juvenal

143. “Writing in the incurable itch that possesses many.”

— Juvenal

144. “When great assurance accompanies a bad undertaking, such is often mistaken for confiding sincerity by the world at large.”

— Juvenal

145. “Would you not like to fill up a whole note-book at the street crossings when you see a forger borne along upon the necks of six porters, and exposed to view on this side and on that in his almost naked litter, and reminding you of the lounging Maecenas: one who by help of a scrap of paper and a moistened seal has converted himself into a fine and wealthy gentleman?”

— Juvenal

146. “This is his first punishment, that by the verdict of his own heart no guilty man is acquitted.”

— Juvenal

147. “The thirst after fame is greater than that after virtue; for who embraces virtue if you take away its rewards?”

— Juvenal

148. “The only gain from the friendship of the great is a fine dinner.”

— Juvenal

149. “A third heir seldom enjoys what has been dishonestly acquired.”

— Juvenal

150. “The Sicilian tyrants never devised a greater punishment than envy.”

— Juvenal