Ovid Quotes

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

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

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a beautiful crop.”

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

“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.

“Love is the force that leaves you colorless”

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

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

“Eurydice, dying now a second time, uttered no complaint against her husband. What was there to complain of, but that she had been loved?”

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

“Seize Time; his swift foot can't be held.”
Utendum est aetate: cito pede labitur aetas.

“Young love is errant, but it needs to get around;
The time and practice make it strong and sound.
That bull you fear, you petted when it wasn't big;
What now you sleep beneath was once a twig.
That little stream, in gaining waters as it goes,
Grows stronger, till at last a river flows.”
Dum novus errat amor, vires sibi colligat usu: Si bene nutrieris, tempore firmus erit. Quem taurum metuis, vitulum mulcere solebas: Sub qua nunc recubas arbore, virga fuit: Nascitur exiguus, sed opes adquirit eundo, Quaque venit, multas accipit amnis aquas.

“If she's cool and unwilling to be wooed,
Just take it, don't weaken; in time she'll soften her mood.
Bending a bough the right way, gently, makes
It easy; use brute force, and it breaks.
With swimming rivers it's the same—
Go with, not against, the current.”
Si nec blanda satis, nec erit tibi comis amanti, Perfer et obdura: postmodo mitis erit. Flectitur obsequio curvatus ab arbore ramus: Frangis, si vires experiere tuas. Obsequio tranantur aquae: nec vincere possis Flumina, si contra, quam rapit unda, nates.

“Time, the devourer of all things.”
Tempus edax rerum.

“Your right arm is useful in the battle; but when it comes to thinking you need my guidance. You have force without intelligence; while mine is the care for to-morrow. You are a good fighter; but is I who help Atrides select the time of fighting. Your value is in your body only; mine, in mind. And, as much as he who directs the ship surpasses him who only rows it, as much as the general exceeds the common soldier, so much greater am I than you. For in these bodies of ours the heart is of more value than the hand; all our real living is in that.”
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 event proves well the wisdom of her [Phyllis'] course.”

“All things change; nothing perishes.”

“God himself helps those who dare.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

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

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

“Anything cracked will shatter at a touch.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

“Every lover is a soldier.”
Militat omnis amans

“Thus I am not able to exist either with you or without you; and I seem not to know my own wishes.”

“I flee who chases me and chase who flees me.”

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

“In our play we reveal what kind of people we are”

“Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas" - "Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses”

“Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intelligor illis.

(In this place I am a barbarian, because men do not understand me.)”

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

“All right, boy, skewer me. I've dropped my defenses,
I'm an easy victim. Why, by now
Your arrows practically know their own way to the target
And feel less at home in their quiver than in me.”

“Greatly he failed, but he had greatly dared.”

“or that writing a poem you can read to no one
is like dancing in the dark.”

“Nitimur in vetitum" -- "We strive after the forbidden”

“Someday this pain will be useful to you”

“It is right to learn even from an enemy.”

“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.”

“Say that I live, but in such wise that I would not live.”
Vivere me dices, sed sic ut vivere nolim

“Let love steal in disguised as friendship.”
Intret amicitiae nomine tectus amor.

“The workmanship excelled the materials.”
Materiam superabat opus

“Now are fields of corn where Troy once stood.”
Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit.

“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.”
Est deus in nobis, et sunt commercia caeli: Sedibus aetheriis spiritus ille venit.

“I see better things, and approve, but I follow worse.”
Video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor.

“Nor can one easily find among many thousands a single man who considers virtue its own reward. The very glory of a good deed, if it lacks reward, affects them not; unrewarded uprightness brings them regret. Nothing but profit is prized.”
Nec facile invenias multis in milibus unum, virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui. ipse decor, recte facti si praemia desint, non movet, et gratis paenitet esse probum. nil nisi quod prodest carum est.

“Gay was oft my song when I was gay, sad it is now that I am sad.”
Laeta fere laetus cecini, cano tristia tristis.

“Drops of water hollow out a stone.”
Gutta cavat lapidem

“So long as you are secure you will count many friends; if your life becomes clouded you will be alone.”
Donec eris sospes, multos numerabis amicos: tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.

“You will be safest in the middle.”
Medio tutissimus ibis.

“Though strength be lacking, yet the will is to be praised.”
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.

“Love yields to business. If you seek a way out of love, be busy; you'll be safe then.”
Qui finem quaeris amoris, Cedit amor rebus; res age, tutus eris.

“Who is allowed to sin, sins less.”
Cui peccare licet, peccat minus.

“Resist beginnings; the remedy comes too late when the disease has gained strength by long delays.”
Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas convaluere moras.

“Well doth he live who lives retired, and keeps
His wants within the limit of his means.”
Crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, et intra Fortunam debet quisque manere suam.

“Ants never head for an empty granary:
no friends gather round when your wealth is gone.”
Horrea formicae tendunt ad inania numquam: nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes.

“A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was Man designed;
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire formed, and fit to rule the rest.”
Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae Deerat adhuc et quod dominari in cetera posset: Natus homo est.

“Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies.”
Pronaque quum spectent animalia cetera terram, Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

“No fairer law in all the land
Than that death-dealers die by what they've planned.”
Neque enim lex aequior ulla est, Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.

“So art lies hid by its own artifice.”