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So anyone elated and puffed up with new-found glory pays a just penalty in hankering after what is too high for him.

Sic quicumque nova sublatus laude tumescit,
dat merito poenas, dum meliora cupit.

Original text (Latin)

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Notes from Wikiquote

II. De Testudine et Aquila ('The Tortoise and the Eagle')

Variants

/ For men sayn comynly who so mounteth hyher than he shold he falleth lower than he wold. —William Caxton, "The Tortose and the other Byrdes" (1484)

More quotes by Avianus

"What profit could I ever hope to gain
when hearkening to the prattle of a nurse?"
Thus often must a worried man complain,
who, trusting woman, finds her art a curse.

This is the lot of mortals; death comes swift to the happier ones, while the daily life of the unfortunate refuses them death.

Everyone should take his true measure and be content with his own merits, and not claim for himself his neighbour's goods.

It will be better to endure toil however burdensome than to experience when young an ease that is soon to be lost.

Because your parents transmitted strong limbs to you, it does not follow that they added efficiency to your strength.

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Attribution

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