Ovid Quotes

When all the other animals, downcast looked upon the earth, he [Prometheus] gave a face raised on high to man, and commanded him to see the sky and raise his high eyes to the stars.

O gods, \ If any gods will listen, I deserve \ Punishment surely, I do not refuse it, \ But lest, in living, I offend the living, Offend the dead in death, drive me away \ From either realm, change me somehow, refuse me \ Both life and death! — Myrrha, before being transformed into a tree

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

Horrea formicae tendunt ad inania numquam:
nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes.

What did Sappho of Lesbos teach but how to love women?

The god of Delos, proud in victory,
Saw Cupid draw his bow's taut arc, and said:
'Mischievous boy, what are a brave man's arms
To you? That gear becomes my shoulders best.
My aim is sure; I wound my enemies,
I wound wild beasts; my countless arrows slew
But now the bloated Python, whose vast coils
Across so many acres spread their blight.
You and your loves! You have your torch to light them!Let that content you; never claim my fame!'

And Venus' son replied: 'Your bow, Apollo,
May vanquish all, but mine shall vanquish you.
As every creature yields to power divine,
So likewise shall your glory yield to mine.

Qui non est hodie eras minus aptus erit. He who is not prepared today will be less so tomorrow.

Love is a child and naked; he has years that know no meanness, and he has no clothes, so that he is open in his ways.

for no god may undo what another god has done...

Fas est ab hoste doceri.
One should learn even from one's enemies.

Tibi dextera bello
utilis: ingenium est, quod eget moderamine nostro;
tu vires sine mente geris, mihi cura futuri;
tu pugnare potes, pugnandi tempora mecum
eligit Atrides; tu tantum corpore prodes,
nos animo; quantoque ratem qui temperat, anteit
remigis officium, quanto dux milite maior,
tantum ego te supero; nec non in corpore nostro
pectora sunt potiora manu: vigor omnis in illis.

The cause is hidden, but the result is well known.

We all conceal
A god within us, we all deal
With heaven direct, from whose high places we derive
The inspiration by which we live.

Read what is here. How could reading a letter harm you?

There might even be something in it that pleases you.

My secrets are carried, by these letters, over land and sea:

even enemies read letters received from their enemies.

Keep your run along a course between those constellations. I leave the rest to Fortune: may she help and guide you better than you do yourself.