“It is not poverty, Nestor, to have nothing at all.”

— Martial, Epigrammata, Book XI, 32 (Loeb translation)

About Martial

40 – 104

Roman poet, master of the epigram.

“Your birthday as my own to me is dear.”

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

“Believe me, wise men don't say ‘I shall live to do that’, tomorrow's life is too late; live today.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”