xy

@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“Nothing is stronger than habit.”
Nil adsuetudine maius.

Ovid book Ars amatoria

Variant translation: Nothing is more powerful than custom.
Book II, line 345
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

“If you would be loved, be lovable”
Ut ameris, amabilis esto.

Ovid book Ars amatoria

Variant translation: To be loved, be lovable.
Book II, line 107
Compare: Si vis amari, ama. ("If you wish to be loved, love"), attributed to Hecato by Seneca the Younger in Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, Epistle IX
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)
Variant: If you want to be loved, be lovable.

“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 (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“Love will enter cloaked in friendship's name.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“It's a kindness that the mind can go where it wishes.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

Source: The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters

“I am dragged along by a strange new force. Desire and reason are pulling in different directions. I see the right way and approve it, but follow the wrong.”

Ovid Metamorphoses

Source: Metamorphoses

“Anything cracked will shatter at a touch.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“We are ever striving after what is forbidden, and coveting what is denied us.”
Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata.

Ovid book Amores

Variant translation: We hunt for things unlawful with swift feet, / As if forbidden joys were only sweet.
Book III; iv, 17
Amores (Love Affairs)

“Give me the waters of Lethe that numb the heart, if they exist, I will still not have the power to forget you.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

Source: The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters

“Omnia mutantur, nihil interit (everything changes, nothing perishes).”

Ovid Metamorphoses

Variant: All things change; nothing perishes.
Source: Metamorphoses

“I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved; since I could not give gifts, I gave words.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

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

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

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

Ovid Metamorphoses

Source: Metamorphoses

“Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.”
"Be patient and tough; one day this pain will be useful to you.”

Ovid Metamorphoses

Source: Metamorphoses

“I grabbed a pile of dust, and holding it up, foolishly asked for as many birthdays as the grains of dust, I forgot to ask that they be years of youth.”

Ovid Metamorphoses

Source: Metamorphoses

“Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.”
Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim.

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.”
Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.

Ovid book Heroides

Book III, line 425
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)
Source: Heroides
Context: Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.

“Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“The cause is hidden. The effect is visible to all.”
Causa latet, vis est notissima

Ovid Metamorphoses

Variant translation: The cause is hidden; the effect is visible to all.
Book IV, 287
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
Variant: The cause is hidden, but the result is well known.