Ovid Quotes

Roman poet (43 BC – 17/18 AD)

Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – 17 AD) was a Roman poet, commonly known to the English-speaking world as Ovid. Along with Virgil and Horace, Ovid is one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature, generally considered the greatest master of the elegiac couplet.

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Native Name: Publius Ovidius Naso

Alternative Names: P. Ovidius Naso

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Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit.

Be bold, take courage... and be strong of soul.

My soul would sing of metamorphoses.
But since, o gods, you were the source of these
bodies becoming other bodies, breathe
your breath into my book of changes: may
the song I sing be seamless as its way
weaves from the world's beginning to our day.

What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Persevere.

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn.

Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur
Cum mala per longas convaluere moras.

Argus, you are fallen, and the light in all your lamps is utterly put out: one hundred eyes, one darkness all the same!

Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor.

Perhaps you think that there are sacred groves and cities of the gods along the way, temples displaying all the gifts of wealth? Not so: your path is full of lurking perils as well as images of savage beasts. “And if you hold this course unswervingly, you’ll find the horns of Taurus in your way, 110 the Archer and the gaping jaws of Leo, and Scorpio, whose long and curving arms sweep one way, while the curving arms of Cancer sweep broadly in the opposite direction.

Siquis amat quod amare iuvat, feliciter ardens
Gaudeat, et vento naviget ille suo.
At siquis male fert indignae regna puellae,
Ne pereat, nostrae sentiat artis opem.

Dignity and love do not blend well, nor do they continue long together.

The gods have their own rules.

"the gods are created by poets" — Ovid