“It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are.”

—  Ovid, book Ars amatoria

Book I, line 637
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are." by Ovid?
Ovid photo
Ovid120
Roman poet -43–17 BC

Related quotes

Charles Stross photo

“I tend to believe that the difference between us and them is that we don’t compromise our principles for temporary convenience.”

Charles Stross The Laundry Files

Source: The Laundry Files, The Apocalypse Codex (2012), Chapter 13, “Fimbulwinter” (p. 258)

“The marriage of convenience has this to recommend it: we are better judges of convenience than we are of love.”

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist

The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Marriage

Henri Poincaré photo

“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.”

Henri Poincaré book Science and Hypothesis

Douter de tout ou tout croire, ce sont deux solutions également commodes, qui l'une et l'autre nous dispensent de réfléchir.
Preface, Dover abridged edition (1952), p. xxii
Science and Hypothesis (1901)

Thomas Tredgold photo

“Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.”

Thomas Tredgold (1788–1829) engineer

Thomas Tredgold (1828), used in the Royal Charter of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) published in: The Times, London, article CS102127326, 30 June 1828.

Bob Dylan photo

“You always said people don't do what they believe in; they just do what's most convenient, then they repent.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Knocked Out Loaded (1986), Brownsville Girl (with Sam Shepard)

Livy photo

“No law is sufficiently convenient to all.”

Livy (-59–17 BC) Roman historian

Book XXXIV, sec. 3
History of Rome

W. S. Gilbert photo

“When your process of extermination begins, let our deaths be as swift and painless as you can conveniently make them.”

W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English librettist of the Gilbert & Sullivan duo

The Pirates of Penzance (1879)

Vitruvius photo

“All… must be built with due reference to durability, convenience, and beauty. Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected; convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments is faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and”

Vitruvius book De architectura

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter III, Sec. 2
Context: All... must be built with due reference to durability, convenience, and beauty. Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the solid ground and materials wisely and liberally selected; convenience, when the arrangement of the apartments is faultless and presents no hindrance to use, and when each class of building is assigned to its suitable and appropriate exposure; and beauty, when the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good taste, and when its members are in due proportion according to correct principles of symmetry.

“Love is never convenient-and rarely painless”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Sunflower

Related topics