Ovid Quotes

The gift derives its value from the rank of the giver.

To feel our ills is one thing, but to cure them is another.

The gods see the deeds of the righteous. [Lat., Di pia facta vident.]

As the hawk is wont to pursue the trembling doves.

Art lies by its own artifice.

Indulgent gods, grant me to sin once with impunity. That is sufficient. Let a second offence bear its punishment.

Thanks are justly due for boons unbought

Alas! how difficult it is not to betray one's guilt by one's looks.

Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination. [Lat., Factis ignoscite nostris Si scelus ingenio scitis abesse meo.]

Time spent in the cultivation of the fields passes very pleasantly.

The swallow is not ensnared by men because of its gentle nature. [Lat., At caret insidiis hominum, quia mitis, hirundo.]

All things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.

Every one who repeats it adds something to the scandal. [The rolling snow-ball.]

Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves achieved, we can scarcely call our own.

Opportunity is ever worth expecting; let your hood be ever hanging ready. The fish will be in the pool where you least imagine it to be.

The mind conscious of innocence despises false reports: but we are a set always ready to believe a scandal.

What follows I flee; what flees I ever pursue.

Pedigree and ancestry and what we ourselves have not achieved, I scarcely recognize as our own.

Remove but the temptations of leisure, and the bow of Cupid will lose its effect.

While strength and years permit, endure labor; soon bent old age will come with silent foot. [Lat., Dum vires annique sinunt, tolerate labores. Jam veniet tacito curva senecta pede.]

Wherever I look there is nothing but the image of death.

Love is a kind of warfare.

Anger assists hands however weak.

Believe me, the gods spare the afflicted, and do not always oppress those who are unfortunate.

We two [Deucalion and Pyrrha, after the deluge] form a multitude. [Lat., Nos duo turba sumus.]

The dove, O hawk, that has once been wounded by thy talons, is frightened by the least movement of a wing. [Lat., Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis.]

It is the poor man who'll ever count his flock.

I am above being injured by fortune, though she steals away much, more will remain with me. The blessing I now enjoy transcend fear.

Envy feeds on the living. It ceases when they are dead.

According to the state of a man's conscience, so do hope and fear on account of his deeds arise in his mind.

How little is the promise of the child fulfilled in the man.

What ignorance there is in human minds.

A wound will perhaps become tolerable with length of time; but wounds which are raw shudder at the touch of the hands.

Out of many things a great heap will be formed. [Lat., De multis grandis acervus erit.]

Fair peace becomes men; ferocious anger belongs to beasts. [Lat., Candida pax homines, trux decet ira feras.]

Treat a thousand dispositions in a thousand ways.

The cause is hidden; the effect is visible to all.

Devouring Time and envious Age, all things yield to you; and with lingering death you destroy, step by step, with venomed tooth whatever you attack.

The prayers of cowards fortune spurns.

He who would not be idle, let him fall in love.

Time glides away and as we get older through the noiseless years; the days flee and are restrained by no reign.

We do not bear sweets; we are recruited by a bitter potion.

The deeds of men never escape the gods. [Lat., Acta deos nunquam mortalia fallunt.]

Pursuits become habits.

We covet what is guarded; the very care invokes the thief. Few love what they may have.

There are a thousand forms of evil; there will be a thousand remedies.

You do not know it but you are the talk of all the town. [Lat., Fabula (nec sentis) tota jactaris in urba.]

Habit had made the custom.

Fortune and love favour the brave. [Lat., Audentem Forsque Venusque juvant.]

There is no excellency without difficulty.