Lucius Apuleius (c. 125 – c. 180) was a Roman philosopher, orator and romance-writer, of Berber North African origin. Apuleius' best-known work is his Metamorphoses, usually known in English as The Golden Ass.
Apuleius It is with life just as with swimming; that man is the most expert who is the most disengaged from all encumbrances. Apologia; seu, Pro Se de Magia (Apologia; or, A Discourse on Magic), ch. 21; p. 268.
Apuleius But he who knows what insanity is, is sane; whereas insanity can no more be sensible of its own existence, than blindness can see itself. Apologia; seu, Pro Se de Magia (Apologia; or, A Discourse on Magic), ch. 80; pp. 326-7.
Apuleius Behold me, Lucius; moved by thy prayers, I appear to thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of all things, the mistress of all the elements, the primordial offspring of time, the supreme among Divinities, the queen of departed spirits, the first of the celestials, and the uniform manifestation of the Gods and Goddesses; who govern by my nod the luminous heights of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the ocean, and the anguished silent realms of the shades below: whose one sole divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations. Bk. 11, ch. 5; p. 226.
Apuleius I approached the confines of death, and having trod on the threshold of Proserpine, I returned therefrom, being borne through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with its brilliant light; and I approached the presence of the Gods beneath, and the Gods of heaven, and stood near, and worshipped them. Bk. 11, ch. 23; pp. 239-40. Describing initiation into the mysteries of Isis.