“These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad. (translator Henry Thomas Riley)”

— Plautus , Trinummus

Trinummus, Act II, sc. 2, line 111; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Alternate translation : This is not the best thing possible, nor what I consider proper ; but it is better than the worst. (translator A. H. Evans)
Trinummus (The Three Coins)

Original

Non optuma haec sunt neque ut ego aequom censeo : verum meliora sunt quam quae deterruma.

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Plautus 54

Roman comic playwright of the Old Latin period -254–-184 BC

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