Lucian Quotes

• Now that I know what I want, I don't have to hold on to it quite so much.

  Lucian

  Artist, Want, Holding On

  45 Copy quote

• Not every story has a happy ending, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth telling.

  Lucian

  Mean, Stories, Happy Endings

  15 Copy quote

• The world is fleeting; all things pass away; Or is it we that pass and they that stay?

  Lucian

  Passing Away, Fleeting, World

  11 Copy quote

• The happy think a lifetime short, but to the unhappy one night can be an eternity.

  Lucian

  Happiness, Night, Thinking

  16 Copy quote

• Everybody dies. Some just need a little help.

  Lucian

  Needs, Littles, Helping

  15 Copy quote

• Realize that true happiness lies within you.

  Lucian

  Inspirational, Faith, Wisdom

  20 Copy quote

• Be grateful. By slaying you now, I spare you an eternity of torment.

  Lucian

  Grateful, Eternity, Slaying

  66 Copy quote

• The truth is hidden from us. Even if a mere piece of luck brings us straight to it, we shall have no grounded conviction of our success; there are so many similar objects, all claiming to be the real thing.

  Lucian

  Real, Luck, Pieces

  Lucian of Samosata (1905). “Works of Lucian of Samosata (Complete Four Volumes)”, p.359, Library of Alexandria

  12 Copy quote

• There is no happiness without tears, no life without death. Beware! I am going to make you cry.

  Lucian

  Serial Killer, Tears, Cry

  13 Copy quote

• The wealth of the soul is the only true wealth.

  Lucian

  Perspective, Soul, Wealth

  Lucian of Samosata (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Lucian (Illustrated)”, p.1194, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• The historian should be fearless and incorruptible; a man of independence, loving frankness and truth; one who, as the poets says, calls a fig a fig and a spade a spade. He should yield to neither hatred nor affection, not should be unsparing and unpitying. He should be neither shy nor deprecating, but an impartial judge, giving each side all it deserves but no more. He should know in his writing no country and no city; he should bow to no authority and acknowledge no king. He should never consider what this or that man will think, but should state the facts as they really occurred.

  Lucian

  Country, Kings, Integrity

  6 Copy quote

• The poor wretches have convinced themselves that they are going to be immortal and live for all time, by worshipping that crucified sophist and living under his laws...they receive these doctrines by tradition, without any definite evidence. So if any charlatan or trickster comes among them, he quickly acquires wealth by imposing upon these simple people.

  Lucian

  Simple, Law, People

  14 Copy quote

• How gracious are the gods in bestowing high positions; and how reluctant are they to insure them when given.

  Lucian

  Given, Gracious, Position

  8 Copy quote

• Dancing is as old as love.

  Lucian

  Dance, Dancing

  14 Copy quote

• Death is a mercy, and I have enough mercy to go around.

  Lucian

  Mercy, Enough

  6 Copy quote

• Poverty persuades a man to do and suffer everything that he may escape from it.

  Lucian

  Men, Suffering, May

  7 Copy quote

• It is not lawful or proper for you to know everything.

  Lucian

  Knowledge, Knows

  4 Copy quote

• Wise is the person at either end. Who can in due measure spare as well as spend.

  Lucian

  Wise, Money, Moments

  5 Copy quote

• Avarice is a cursed vice: offer a man enough gold, and he will part with his own small hoard of food, however great his hunger.

  Lucian

  Men, Greed, Gold

  5 Copy quote

• The effort only shifted me from the frying-pan into the fire.

  Lucian

  Fire, Effort, Frying Pans

  Lucian of Samosata (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Lucian (Illustrated)”, p.473, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

• The industry needs transforming. It’s for others to decide whether they want to get stuck in the past or whether they want to come on the journey.

  Lucian

  Past, Journey, Want

  8 Copy quote

• The only business of the historian is to relate things exactly as they are: this he can never do as long as he is afraid

  Lucian

  Long, Historian, Relate

  Lucian of Samosata (2013). “Trips to the Moon”, p.27, Baen Publishing Enterprises

  4 Copy quote

• I'll be reading books until the next challenger arrives. That will calm my nerves, so that I may deal with all situations without panicking.

  Lucian

  Reading, Book, Next

  5 Copy quote

• The lips are closed, for the dancer has plenty of other voices at his service.

  Lucian

  Dance, Voice, Lips

  Lucian of Samosata (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Lucian (Illustrated)”, p.620, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

• For history, I say again, has this and this only for its own: if a man will start upon it, he must sacrifice to no God but Truth; he must neglect all else; his sole rule and unerring guide is this - to think not of those who are listening to him now, but of the yet unborn who shall seek his converse.

  Lucian

  Sacrifice, Men, Thinking

  Lucian of Samosata (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Lucian (Illustrated)”, p.822, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

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