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Sententiae () are brief moral sayings, such as proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, or taken from ancient or popular or other sources, often quoted without context. Sententia, the nominative singular, also called a "sentence", is a kind of rhetorical proof. Through the invocation of a proverb, quotation, or witty turn of phrase during a presentation or conversation one may be able to gain the assent of the listener, who will hear a kind of non-logical, but agreed-upon truth in what one is saying. An example of this is the phrase "age is better with wine" playing off of the adage "wine is better with age". The same saying is present in .
Early modern English writers, heavily influenced by various Renaissance humanist educational practices, such as harvesting commonplaces, were especially attracted to sententiae. The technique of sententious speech is exemplified by Polonius' famous speech to Laertes in Hamlet.Act 1, scene 3 Sometimes in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama the sententious lines appear at the end of scenes in rhymed couplets (for instance, John Webster's Duchess of Malfi). In some early modern dramatic texts and other writings, sententiae are often flagged by marginal notes or special marks.G.K. Hunter, "The Marking of Sententiae in Elizabethan Printed Plays, Poems, and Romances," The Library
The "first Roman book of literary character" was the Sententiae of Appius Claudius Caecus, which was composed upon a Greek model.Boak, Arthur E. R. & Sinnigen, William G. History of Rome to A.D. 565. 5th Edition. The Macmillan Company, 1965. p. 95
A similar literary genre recurred in 1150 within the Sentences (The Four Books of Sentences) of Peter Lombard, a book which was widely commented during the Middle Age, namely by Saint Thomas Aquinas (FRBNF38880564). and Saint Bonaventura.
Publilius Syrus is known for his sententiae.
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