Top 120 Martial Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Tomorrow’s life is too late. Live today.”

— Martial

2. “Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well.”

— Martial

3. “Life is not living, but living in health.”

— Martial

4. “Why do strong arms fatigue themselves with frivolous dumbbells? To dig a vineyard is worthier exercise for men.”

— Martial

5. “If you have any shame, forbear to pluck the beard of a dead lion.”

— Martial

6. “If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts.”

— Martial

7. “My poems are naughty, but my life is pure.”

— Martial

8. “No hero to me is the man who, by easy shedding of his blood, purchases fame: my hero is he who, without death, can win praise.”

— Martial

9. “There is no living with thee, nor without thee.”

— Martial

10. “Wine and women bring misery.”

— Martial

11. “A novice always behaves with propriety.”

— Martial

12. “To be able to enjoy one’s past life is to live twice.”

— Martial

13. “Gifts are like fish-hooks; for who is not aware that the greedy char is deceived by the fly which he swallows?”

— Martial

14. “Givers of great dinners know few enemies.”

— Martial

15. “Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.”

— Martial

16. “The virtuous man is never a novice in worldly things.”

— Martial

17. “A man who lives everywhere lives nowhere.”

— Martial

18. “There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.”

— Martial

19. “The face that cannot smile is never fair.”

— Martial

20. “Fortune gives too much to many, enough to none.”

— Martial

21. “Why do I not kiss you, Philaenis? you are bald. Why do I not kiss you, Philaenis? you are carrotty. Why do I not kiss you, Philaenis? you are one-eyed. He who kisses you, Philaenis, sins against nature.”

— Martial

22. “If I remember right, Aelia, you had four teeth; a cough displaced two, another two more. You can now cough without anxiety all the day long. A third cough can find nothing to do in your mouth.”

— Martial

23. “You admire, Vacerra, only the poets of old and praise only those who are dead. Pardon me, I beseech you, Vacerra, if I think death too high a price to pay for your praise.”

— Martial

24. “You give me nothing during your life, but you promise to provide for me at your death. If you are not a fool, you know what I wish for!”

— Martial

25. “For life is only life when blessed with health.”

— Martial

26. “Do you ask why I am unwilling to marry a rich wife? It is because I am unwilling to be taken to husband by my wife. The mistress of the house should be subordinate to her husband, for in no other way, Priscus, will the wife and husband be on an equality.”

— Martial

27. “What quick wit is found in sudden straits!”

— Martial

28. “You ask what a nice girl will do? She won’t give an inch, but she won’t say no.”

— Martial

29. “Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door always open tempts no suitor.”

— Martial

30. “The flaw which is hidden is deemed greater than it is.”

— Martial

31. “You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe – or she will call you ungrateful.”

— Martial

32. “If you are poor now, Aemilianus, you will always be poor. Riches are now given to none but the rich.”

— Martial

33. “It is to live twice when we can enjoy the recollections of our former life.”

— Martial

34. “Virtue extends our days: he lives two lives who relives his past with pleasure.”

— Martial

35. “You puff the poets of other days, The living you deplore. Spare me the accolade: your praise Is not worth dying for.”

— Martial

36. “There is no glory in otustripping donkeys.”

— Martial

37. “Every epigram should resemble a bee; it should have sting, honey, and brevity.”

— Martial

38. “I am a shell-fish just come from being saturated with the waters of the Lucrine lake, near Baiae; but now I luxuriously thrust for noble pickle.”

— Martial

39. “I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; I can only say this, “I do not love thee.””

— Martial

40. “It is feeling and force of imagination that make us eloquent.”

— Martial

41. “I commend you, Postumus, for kissing me with only half your lip; you may, however, if you please, withhold even the half of this half. Are you inclined to grant me a boon still greater, and even inexpressible? Keep this whole half entirely to yourself, Postumus.”

— Martial

42. “Every bird that upwards swings Bears the Cross upon its wings.”

— Martial

43. “The swan murmurs sweet strains with a flattering tongue, itself the singer of its own dirge.”

— Martial

44. “If fame is to come only after death, I am in no hurry for it.”

— Martial

45. “A fisherman’s walk: three steps and overboard.”

— Martial

46. “The swifter hand doth the swift words outrun: Before the tongue hath spoke the hand hath done.”

— Martial

47. “Live thy life as it were spoil and pluck the joys that fly.”

— Martial

48. “While an ant was wandering under the shade of the tree of Phaeton, a drop of amber enveloped the tiny insect; thus she, who in life was disregarded, became precious by death.”

— Martial

49. “Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality, and benevolence; the other from pride or fear, or from the fact that you cannot take your money with you to the other world.”

— Martial

50. “He writes nothing whose writings are not read.”

— Martial