Virgil Quotes

“They can do all because they think they can.”

“They can conquer who believe they can.”

“Look with favor upon a bold beginning.”
Audacibus annue coeptis.

“I have lived
and journeyed through the course assigned by fortune.
And now my Shade will pass, illustrious,
beneath the earth.”
Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum Fortuna, peregi; Et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit Imago.

“Fate withstands.”

“Be warned; learn ye to be just and not to slight the gods!”
Discite justitiam moniti et non temnere divos.

“Friends and companions,
Have we not known hard hours before this?
My men, who have endured still greater dangers,
God will grant us an end to these as well.”
O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum— O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.

“Cease to think that the decrees of the gods can be changed by prayers.”
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

“Can such resentment hold the minds of gods?”
Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?

“Ye realms, yet unrevealed to human sight,
Ye gods who rule the regions of the night,
Ye gliding ghosts, permit me to relate
The mystic wonders of your silent state!”
Di, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes, Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late, Sit mihi fas audita loqui: sit numine vestro Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas.

“Love conquers all. Let Love then smile at our defeat.”
Omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori.

“Love is lord of all, and is in all the same.”
Amor omnibus idem.

“Unconscionable Love,
To what extremes will you not drive our hearts!”
Improbe Amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis!

“Now I know what Love is.”
Nunc scio quid sit Amor.

“Who knows?
Better times may come to those in pain.”
Forsan miseros meliora sequentur.

“I shall die unavenged, but I shall die,"
she says. "Thus, thus, I gladly go below
to shadows.”
‘Moriemur inultae, Sed moriamur’ ait. ‘sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras.’

“Toil conquered the world, unrelenting toil, and want that pinches when life is hard.”
Labor omnia vicit<!--uicit--> improbus et duris urgens in rebus egestas.

“If we may compare small things with great.”
Si parva licet componere magnis.

“Wars, horrid wars.”
Bella, horrida bella.

“Euryalus
In death went reeling down,
And blood streamed on his handsome length, his neck
Collapsing let his head fall on his shoulder—
As a bright flower cut by a passing plow
Will droop and wither slowly, or a poppy
Bow its head upon its tired stalk
When overborne by a passing rain.”
Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus It cruor inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit: Purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro Languescit moriens; lassove papavera collo Demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur.

“O farmers, pray that your summers be wet and your winters clear.”
Umida<!--Humida?--> solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas, agricolae.

“Every field, every tree is now budding; now the woods are green, now the year is at its loveliest.”
Nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbor; Nunc frondent sylvae, nunc formosissimus annus.

“Wrapping truth in darkness.”

“Following what is decreed by fate.”

“It is come—the last day and inevitable hour for Troy.”
Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus Dardaniae.

“I made these little verses, another took the honor.”
Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.

“Every man's last day is fixed.
Lifetimes are brief and not to be regained,
For all mankind. But by their deeds to make
Their fame last: that is labor for the brave.”
Stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus Omnibus est vitae; sed famam extendere factis, Hoc virtutis opus.

“Obscure they went through dreary shades, that led
Along the waste dominions of the dead.”
Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, Perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna.

“Trust the expert.”

“How lucky, if they know their happiness,
Are farmers, more than lucky, they for whom,
Far from the clash of arms, the earth herself,
Most fair in dealing, freely lavishes
An easy livelihood.”
O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint Agricolas, quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis, Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus!

“By the aid of art.”

“I am the poet who once tuned his song
On a slender reed and then leaving the woods
Compelled the fields to obey the hungry farmer,
A pleasing work. But now War's grim and savage …”
Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena Carmen, et egressus silvis vicina coegi Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono, Gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis<!-- Arma virumque cano--> ...

“Vice thrives and lives by concealment.”
Alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo.

“Many colors blend into one.”
Color est e pluribus unus.

“The great line of the centuries begins anew.”
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.

“Rage supplies arms.”

“An ornament and a safeguard.”
Decus et tutamen.

“The only hope for the doomed is no hope at all.”
Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem.

“I feel once more the scars of the old flame.”
Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.

“Every misfortune is to be subdued by patience.”
Superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.

“Everyone is dragged on by their favorite pleasure.”
Trahit sua quemque voluptas.

“And with a groan for that indignity
His spirit fled into the gloom below.”
Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.

“There is no salvation in war.”

“To what extremes won't you compel our hearts,
you accursed lust for gold?”
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames?

“If I cannot sway the heavens, I'll wake the powers of hell!”
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo<!--mouebo?-->.

“Away, away, unhallowed ones!”
Procul, O procul este, profani!

“How changed from what he once was!”
Quantum mutatus ab illo.

“Presence diminishes fame.”
Minuit praesentia famam.

“Force finds a way.”

“Death's own brother Sleep.”
Consanguineus Leti Sopor.

“I will teach you your destiny.”

“Go no further down the road of hatred.”
Ulterius ne tende odiis.

“There all stood begging to be first across
And reached out longing hands to the far shore.”
Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.

“O three and four times blessed!”
O terque quaterque beati!

“There are twin Gates of Sleep.
One, they say, is called the Gate of Horn
and it offers easy passage to all true shades.
The other glistens with ivory, radiant, flawless,
but through it the dead send false dreams up toward the sky.”
Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris, Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto, Sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes.

“Your descendants shall gather your fruits.”
Carpent tua poma nepotes.

“To compare great things with small.”
Parvis componere magna.

“Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.”
Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.

“Nay, had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and voice of iron, I could not sum up all the forms of crime, or rehearse all the tale of torments.”
Non, mihi si linguae centum sunt oraque centum Ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas, Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.

“Fickle and changeable always is woman.”
Varium et mutabile semper Femina.

“From one learn all.”
Ab uno disce omnes.

“They can because they think they can.”
Possunt, quia posse videntur.

“What a woman can do in frenzy.”
Furens quid Femina possit.

“Death twitches my ear. "Live," he says. "I am coming."”
Mors aurem vellens, "vivite," ait, "venio."

“In youth alone, unhappy mortals live;
But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive:
Discolored sickness, anxious labor, come,
And age, and death's inexorable doom.”
Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.