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

— Martial, Epigrammata, Book I, 4

About Martial

40 – 104

Roman poet, master of the epigram.

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

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

“Glory paid to ashes comes too late.”

“Each of us lives only now, this brief instant.”

“Life is our dictionary.”

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.”

“If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.”

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”