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Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.

— Cato the Elder

Emas non quod opus est, sed quod necesse est. Quod non opus est, asse carum est.

Original text (Latin)

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More quotes by Cato the Elder

Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.

Grasp the subject, the words will follow.

We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.

The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.

Those who commit private theft pass their lives in confinement and fetters; plunderers of the public, in gold and purple.

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Attribution

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