Such are the heights of wickedness to which men are driven by religion.
— Lucretius
The sum of all sums is eternity.
What is food to one man is bitter poison to others.
Pleasant it to behold great encounters of warfare arrayed over the plains, with no part of yours in peril.
The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.
The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied.
So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds.
Sweet it is, when on the high seas the winds are lashing the waters, to gaze from the land on another's struggles.
Victory puts us on a level with heaven.
And life is given to none freehold, but it is leasehold for all.
Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation; not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive you are free of them yourself is pleasant.
From the very fountain of enchantment there arises a taste of bitterness to spread anguish amongst the flowers.
It is great wealth to a soul to live frugally with a contented mind.
From the heart of the fountain of delight rises a jet of bitterness that tortures us among the very flowers.
Life is one long struggle in the dark.
In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.
The fall of dropping water wears away the Stone.
Though the dungeon, the scourge, and the executioner be absent, the guilty mind can apply the goad and scorch with blows.
Thus the sum of things is ever being reviewed, and mortals dependent one upon another. Some nations increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and like runners pass on the torch of life.
