Ovid's Quotes

Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (Latin: [ˈpuːblɪ.ʊs ɔˈwɪd̪ɪ.ʊs ˈnaːsoː]; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( OV-id), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus banished him to a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death.

Ovid's selected quotes:

Ovid about May:

The penalty may be removed, the crime is eternal.

Ovid about Women:

Whether they give or refuse, it delights women just the same to have been asked.

Ovid about Roses:

The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.

Ovid about Integrity:

No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ...
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Ovid about Horse:

A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.

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Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (Latin: [ˈpuːblɪ.ʊs ɔˈwɪd̪ɪ.ʊs ˈnaːsoː]; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( OV-id), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin adore elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed Big popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus banished him to a detached province upon the Black Sea, where he remained until his death.

The first major Roman poet to start his career during the reign of Augustus, Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses, a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love”) and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology.

All quotes from Ovid sorted alphabetically:

Ovid about Horse:

A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.

Ovid about Slow:

A prince should be slow to punish, and quick to reward.

Ovid about Death:

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn, it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.

Ovid about Man:

A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.

Ovid about Guilt:

Alas! how difficult it is not to betray one's guilt by one's looks.

Ovid about Bold:

Against the bold, daring is unsafe.

Ovid about Evil:

All things can corrupt when minds are prone to evil.

Ovid about Love:

All love is vanquished by a succeeding love.

Ovid about Art:

Art lies by its own artifice.

Ovid about Life:

An evil life is a kind of death.

Ovid about Medicine:

An anthill increases by accumulation. Medicine is consumed by distribution. That which is feared lessens by association. This is the thing to understand.

Ovid about Day:

Bear and endure: This sorrow will one day prove to be for your good.

Ovid about Time:

At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.

Ovid about Patience:

Bear patiently with a rival.

Ovid about Woman:

Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven, darkness makes any woman fair.

Ovid about Beauty:

Beauty is a fragile gift.

Ovid about Strength:

Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.

Ovid about Powerful:

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast, in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.

Ovid about Go:

Either do not attempt at all, or go through with it.

Ovid about Men:

Daring is not safe against daring men.

Ovid about Step:

Cunning leads to knavery. It is but a step from one to the other, and that very slippery. Only lying makes the difference, add that to cunning, and it is knavery.

Ovid about Beauty:

Enhance and intensify one's vision of that synthesis of truth and beauty which is the highest and deepest reality.

Ovid about Strength:

Endure and persist, this pain will turn to good by and by.

Ovid about Fear:

Everyone wishes that the man whom he fears would perish.

Ovid about Soldier:

Every lover is a soldier.

Ovid about Everything:

Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.

Ovid about Promises:

Everyone's a millionaire where promises are concerned.

Ovid about Wisdom:

First appearance deceives many.

Ovid about Peace:

Fair peace becomes men, ferocious anger belongs to beasts.

Ovid about Morning:

First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, 'I believe,' three times.

Ovid about Victory:

Give way to your opponent, thus will you gain the crown of victory.

Ovid about Love:

Fortune and love favor the brave.

Ovid about Happiness:

Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.

Ovid about Love:

Happy are those who dare courageously to defend what they love.

Ovid about Change:

Habits change into character.

Ovid about Love:

He who says o'er much I love not is in love.

Ovid about Believe:

He who can believe himself well, will be well.

Ovid about Love:

If any person wish to be idle, let them fall in love.

Ovid about Achievement:

I attempt an arduous task, but there is no worth in that which is not a difficult achievement.

Ovid about Easy:

In an easy matter. Anybody can be eloquent.

Ovid about Love:

If you want to be loved, be lovable.

Ovid about Believe:

It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are.

Ovid about People:

In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are.

Ovid about Lovers:

Jupiter from on high smiles at the perjuries of lovers.

Ovid about Man:

It is the poor man who'll ever count his flock.

Ovid about Fish:

Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish.

Ovid about Trouble:

Let what is irksome become habitual, no more will it trouble you.

Ovid about I Am:

Let others praise ancient times, I am glad I was born in these.

Ovid about Time:

Like fragile ice anger passes away in time.

Ovid about Love:

Love and dignity cannot share the same abode.

Ovid about Little Things:

Little things please little minds.

Ovid about Love:

Love is full of anxious fears.

Ovid about Love:

Love is a thing that is full of cares and fears.

Ovid about Love:

Love is a credulous thing.

Ovid about Love:

Majesty and love do not consort well together, nor do they dwell in the same place.

Ovid about Luck:

Luck affects everything. Let your hook always be cast, in the stream where you least expect it there will be a fish.

Ovid about Good:

Men do not value a good deed unless it brings a reward.

Ovid about Women:

Many women long for what eludes them, and like not what is offered them.

Ovid about Make:

Make the workmanship surpass the materials.

Ovid about Hope:

My hopes are not always realized, but I always hope.

Ovid about Path:

Most safely shall you tread the middle path.

Ovid about Character:

Note too that a faithful study of the liberal arts humanizes character and permits it not to be cruel.

Ovid about Integrity:

No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us. Our integrity is never worth so much as when we have parted with our all to keep it.

Ovid about Wave:

Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again.

Ovid about Strength:

Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.

Ovid about Powerful:

Nothing is more powerful than custom or habit.

Ovid about Light:

The burden which is well borne becomes light.

Ovid about Best:

The bold adventurer succeeds the best.

Ovid about Beautiful:

Take rest, a field that has rested gives a beautiful crop.

Ovid about Actions:

The gods behold all righteous actions.

Ovid about Hidden:

The cause is hidden, the effect is visible to all.

Ovid about Cool:

The high-spirited man may indeed die, but he will not stoop to meanness. Fire, though it may be quenched, will not become cool.

Ovid about Others:

The heavier crop is ever in others' fields.

Ovid about Good:

The good of other times let people state, I think it lucky I was born so late.

Ovid about Sea:

The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.

Ovid about Clean:

The lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean.

Ovid about May:

The penalty may be removed, the crime is eternal.

Ovid about Fortune:

The prayers of cowards fortune spurns.

Ovid about May:

The will is commendable though the ability may be wanting.

Ovid about Horse:

The spirited horse, which will try to win the race of its own accord, will run even faster if encouraged.

Ovid about Roses:

The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.

Ovid about Alcohol:

There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled.

Ovid about God:

There is a god within us.

Ovid about Nature:

Those things that nature denied to human sight, she revealed to the eyes of the soul.

Ovid about Anxiety:

There is no such thing as pure pleasure, some anxiety always goes with it.

Ovid about Best:

Time is generally the best doctor.

Ovid about Water:

Thou seest how sloth wastes the sluggish body, as water is corrupted unless it moves.

Ovid about Time:

Time, motion and wine cause sleep.

Ovid about Time:

Time is the devourer of all things.

Ovid about Feel:

To feel our ills is one thing, but to cure them is another.

Ovid about Time:

Time, the devourer of all things.

Ovid about Bold:

Venus favors the bold.

Ovid about Occasion:

Use the occasion, for it passes swiftly.

Ovid about Reason:

What is now reason was formerly impulse or instinct.

Ovid about Love:

What is it that love does to a woman? Without she only sleeps, with it alone, she lives.

Ovid about Striving:

We are ever striving after what is forbidden, and coveting what is denied us.

Ovid about Men:

What makes men indifferent to their wives is that they can see them when they please.

Ovid about Rest:

What is without periods of rest will not endure.

Ovid about Women:

Whether they give or refuse, it delights women just the same to have been asked.

Ovid about Believe:

Where belief is painful we are slow to believe.

Ovid about Learn:

You can learn from anyone even your enemy.

Ovid about Details:

Why should I go into details, we have nothing that is not perishable except what our hearts and our intellects endows us with.

Ovid about Heart:

Whether you call my heart affectionate, or you call it womanish: I confess, that to my misfortune, it is soft.

Ovid about You:

You will go most safely in the middle.