Roman poet & philosopher (c. 99 BC - c. 55. BC)
We know that many conditions must be satisfied
If a species is to last and reproduce itself:
First there must be food for it, and then a channel
Through which the genetic particles in the limbs
Can find a way out; and the female must fit the male;
There must be organs which can give mutual pleasure.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care?
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
Nature impelled men to make sounds with their tongues
And they found it useful to give names to things
Much for the same reason that we see children now
Have recourse to gestures because they cannot speak
And point their fingers at things which appear before them.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
All things around, convulsed with violent thunder, seem to tremble, and the mighty walls of the capacious world appear at once to have started and burst asunder.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true. This terror therefore and darkness of mind must be dispelled not by the rays of the sun and glittering shafts of day, but by the aspect and law of nature.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura
For there is a VOID in things; a truth which it will be useful for you, in reference to many points, to know; and which will prevent you from wandering in doubt.
LUCRETIUS
De Rerum Natura