Top 180 Plautus Quotes (2026 Update)
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51. “You love a nothing when you love an ingrate.”

— Plautus

52. “In everything the middle road is best.”

— Plautus

53. “As long as she is wise and good, a girl has sufficient dowry.”

— Plautus

54. “The greatest talents often lie buried out of sight.”

— Plautus

55. “It is good to love in a moderate degree; but it is not good to love to distraction.”

— Plautus

56. “The gods play games with men as balls.”

— Plautus

57. “Women have many faults, but the worst of them all is that they are too pleased with themselves and take too little pains to please the men.”

— Plautus

58. “Conquered, we conquer.”

— Plautus

59. “In everything the middle course is the best; everything in excess brings trouble.”

— Plautus

60. “It is difficult to fly without wings.”

— Plautus

61. “Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.”

— Plautus

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

— Plautus

63. “Wisdom is not attained by years, but by ability.”

— Plautus

64. “Never speak ill of an absent friend.”

— Plautus

65. “Let not your expenditure exceed your income.”

— Plautus

66. “When you fly from temptation, don’t leave a forwarding address. Where there’s smoke there’s fire.”

— Plautus

67. “The Bell never rings of itself; unless some one handles or moves it it is dumb.”

— Plautus

68. “Let deeds match words.”

— Plautus

69. “It is a bitter disappointment when you have sown benefits, to reap injuries.”

— Plautus

70. “Love has both its gall and honey in abundance: it has sweetness to the taste, but it presents bitterness also to satiety.”

— Plautus

71. “How often the highest talent lurks in obscurity.”

— Plautus

72. “To a well deserving person God will show favor. To an ill deserving person He will simply be just.”

— Plautus

73. “He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.”

— Plautus

74. “He whom the gods love dies young, while he is in health, has his senses and his judgments sound.”

— Plautus

75. “It well becomes a young man to be modest.”

— Plautus

76. “He who tries to protect himself from deception is often cheated, even when most on his guard.”

— Plautus

77. “To an honest man, it is an honor to have remembered his duty.”

— Plautus

78. “To waste one’s breath; to pump into a sieve.”

— Plautus

79. “The man who would be fully employed should procure a ship or a woman, for no two things produce more trouble.”

— Plautus

80. “A woman smells well when she smells of nothing.”

— Plautus

81. “No guest is so welcome in a friend’s house that he will not become a nuisance after three days.”

— Plautus

82. “Vulgarity of manners defiles fine garments more than mud.”

— Plautus

83. “I trust no rich man who is officiously kind to a poor man.”

— Plautus

84. “He is a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.”

— Plautus

85. “Not every age is fit for childish sports.”

— Plautus

86. “If you speak insults you will hear them also.”

— Plautus

87. “No man will be respected by others who is despised by his own relatives.”

— Plautus

88. “Flame is very near to smoke.”

— Plautus

89. “In misfortune if you cultivate a cheerful disposition you will reap the advantage of it.”

— Plautus

90. “What you lend is lost; when you ask for it back, you may find a friend made an enemy by your kindness. If you begin to press him further, you have the choice of two things – either to lose your loan or lose your friend.”

— Plautus

91. “If you are content, you have enough to live comfortably.”

— Plautus

92. “All good men and women should be on their guard to avoid guilt, and even the suspicion of it.”

— Plautus

93. “Ones oldest friend is the best.”

— Plautus

94. “It wasn’t for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.”

— Plautus

95. “I count him lost, who is lost to shame.”

— Plautus

96. “It is our human lot, it is heaven’s will, that sorrow follow joy.”

— Plautus

97. “I seek the utmost pleasure and the least pain.”

— Plautus

98. “If you do anything well, gratitude is lighter than a feather; if you give offense in anything, people’s wrath is as heavy as lead.”

— Plautus

99. “He is a friend who, in dubious circumstances, aids in deeds when deeds are necessary.”

— Plautus

100. “He who accuses another of wrong should look well into his own conduct.”

— Plautus