Petronius

“I believe that school makes complete fools of our young men, because they see and hear nothing of ordinary life there”

“Everyone will find what he's looking for. Nothing pleases everyone: this man gathers thorns, that one roses.”

“I saw with my own eyes the Sibyl of Cumae hanging in a jar, and when the boys said to her, Sibyl, what do you want? she replied I want to die.”

“Can't you see that I'm only advising you to beg yourself not to be so dumb?”

“Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: Σίβυλλα τί θέλεις; respondebat illa: ἀποθανεῖν θέλω.For with my own eyes I saw Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the young boys asked her, 'Sibyl, what do you want?', she replied, 'I want to die.”

“Outward looks are not enough,Beauty is not common stuff-Of merriment it is compact,Playful grace in every act,Witty laughter, laughing wit:These are things that go with it,These surpass the simple gracesIn beautiful and silly faces.Art is beauty; and I say:Take the lovely fool away!-If she strips from foot to headAnd doesn't ask me into bed.”

“Nothing is falser than people's preconceptions and ready-made opinions; nothing is sillier than their sham morality...”