Ovid: Trending quotes (page 4)

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Ovid: 240   quotes 132   likes

“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.

Book I, 84 (as translated by John Dryden)
Metamorphoses (Transformations)

“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.

Book I, 76 (as translated by John Dryden)
Metamorphoses (Transformations)

“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.

Ovid book Tristia

I, ix, 9-10; translation by A.S. Kline
Tristia (Sorrows)

“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.

Ovid book Tristia

Variant translation: Believe me that he who has passed his time in retirement, has lived to a good end, and it behoves every man to live within his means
III, iv, 26
Tristia (Sorrows)

“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.

Source: Remedia Amoris (The Cure for Love), Lines 91–92

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

Ovid book Amores

Book III, iv, 9
Amores (Love Affairs)

“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.

Source: Remedia Amoris (The Cure for Love), Lines 143–144

“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.

Book II, lines 339–344 (tr. Len Krisak)
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

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

III, iv, 79
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)

“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.

Book II, lines 177–182 (tr. James Michie)
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

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

Book II, 137
Variant translation: You will go most safely by the middle way.
Metamorphoses (Transformations)

“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.

Ovid book Tristia

I, ix, 5
Tristia (Sorrows)

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

IV, x, 5; Arthur Leslie Wheeler translation
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)

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

III, ix, 35; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)

“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.

II, iii, 11-15; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler. Variant translation of gratis paenitet esse probum, in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed. (1980), p. 114: "It is annoying to be honest to no purpose."
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)

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

Book VII, 20
Metamorphoses (Transformations)

“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.

Book III, lines 549–550 (tr. James Michie)
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

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

Ovid book Heroides

I, 53
Heroides (The Heroines)

“The workmanship excelled the materials.”
Materiam superabat opus

Book II, 5 https://books.google.ca/books?id=-64WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=%22the+workmanship+excelled%22+the+materials&source=bl&ots=p0eBvwqvZt&sig=mcbS595g29eyZFwktm3L2iuqtCw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjh_5GBwbXSAhXsy4MKHWJUC8EQ6AEIKjAG#v=onepage&q=%22the%20workmanship%20excelled%22%20the%20materials&f=false
Metamorphoses (Transformations)

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

Book I, line 720; translated by J. Lewis May in The Love Books of Ovid, 1930
Variant translation: Love will enter cloaked in friendship's name.
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)