To laugh, if but for an ...

To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.
 Pliny the Elder

Quotes from the same author

Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations.
 Pliny the Elder
It is this earth that, like a kind mother, receives us at our birth, and sustains us when born; it is this alone, of all the elements around us, that is never found an enemy of man.
 Pliny the Elder
In the literary as well as military world, most powerful abilities will often be found concealed under a rustic garb.
 Pliny the Elder
No man's abilities are so remarkably shining as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity.
 Pliny the Elder
I would have a man generous to his country, his neighbors, his kindred, his friends, and most of all his poor friends. Not like some who are most lavish with those who are able to give most of them.
 Pliny the Elder