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

— Martial, Epigrams, Book IX, Epigram 53

About Martial

40 – 104

Roman poet, master of the epigram.

“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.”

“Glory paid to ashes comes too late.”

“Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

“A true friend is forever a friend.”