Skip to content

What came from the earth returns back to the earth, and the spirit that was sent from heaven, again carried back, is received into the temple of heaven.

Cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante,
In terras; et, quod missum est ex ætheris oreis,
Id rursum cæli relatum templa receptant.

Original text (Latin)

Another quote →

Topics

Religion

More quotes by Lucretius

By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.

Men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared.

In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.

The world was never made for us by divine power: so great are the faults with which it stands endowed.

We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things require a seed to start from.

All Lucretius quotes →

You may also like

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Lucretius (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.