Ovid Inspirational Quotes

Passion persuades me one way, reason another. I see the better and approve it, but I follow the worse.

Deadly poisons are concealed under sweet honey.

Whether they yield or refuse, it delights women to have been asked.

The crop always seems better in our neighbor's field, and our neighbor's cow gives more milk.

I flee who chases me and chase who flees me.

Work while your strength and years permit you; crooked age will by-and-by come upon you with silent foot.

I attempt a difficult work; but there is no excellence without difficulty. [Lat., Ardua molimur; sed nulla nisi ardua virtus.]

Stop short of your appetite; eat less than you are able.

If you want to be loved, be lovable.

When you have set yourself a task finish it.

Men do not value a good deed unless it brings a reward.

Nothing is more useful to man that those arts which have no utility.

The punishment can be remitted; the crime is everlasting.

The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.

Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses.

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

What one beholds of a woman is the least part of her.

What is without periods of rest will not endure.

A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.

The glow of inspiration warms us; it is a holy rapture.

All things change, nothing is extinguished. There is nothing in the whole world which is permanent. Everything flows onward; all things are brought into being with a changing nature; the ages themselves glide by in constant movement.

To be silent is but a small virtue; but it is a serious fault to reveal secrets.

When the character's right, looks are a greater delight.

Twice does he live who can enjoy the remembrance of the past.

Gold will buy the highest honours; and gold will purchase love.

Virtue and vice, evil and good, are siblings, or next-door neighbors, Easy to make mistakes, hard to tell them apart.

The result proves the wisdom of the act.

Keep thy hook always baited, for a fish lurks even in the most unlikely swim.

When there is plenty of wine, sorrow and worry take wing.

The time will come when you will hate the sight of a mirror.

Love will enter cloaked in friendship's name.

The gods have their own rules.

My hopes are not always realized, but I always hope. [Lat., Et res non semper, spes mihi semper adest.]

Only the mind cannot be sent into exile.

In the make-up of human beings, intelligence counts for more than our hands, and that is our true strength.

In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.

What makes men indifferent to their wives is that they can see them when they please.

The mightiest rivers lose their force when split up into several streams.

The bold adventurer succeeds the best.

Do not believe hastily.

The brave find a home in every land.

If you count the sunny and the cloudy days of the whole year, you will find that the sunshine predominates.

Ants do no bend their ways to empty barns, so no friend will visit the place of departed wealth. [Lat., Horrea formicae tendunt ad inania nunquam Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes.]

The lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean.

Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.

We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.

There is nothing constant in the universe. All ebb and flow, and every shape that's born, bears in its womb the seeds of change.

Change is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be a fish.

Anyone can be rich in promises.

A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward.

The vulgar crowd values friends according to their usefulness.

The mind ill at ease, the body suffers also.

Truly now is the golden age; the highest honour comes by means of gold; by gold love is procured.

Rest strengthens the body, the mind too is thus supported; but unremitting toil destroys both.

First try all other means, but if the wound Heal not, then use the knife, lest to the clean From the diseased the canker spread.

Men should not care too much for good looks; neglect is becoming.

When the roses are gone, nothing is left but the thorn.

Bring a lawsuit against a man who can pay; the poor man's acts are not worth the expense

He lives well who lives retired, and keeps His wants within the limits of his means.

Nothing retains its form; new shapes from old. Nature, the great inventor, ceaselessly contrives. In all creation, be assured, there is no death - no death, but only change and innovation; what we men call birth is but a different new beginning; death is but to cease to be the same. Perhaps this may have moved to that, and that to this, yet still the sum of things remains the same.

Give way to your opponent; thus will you gain the crown of victory.

You will be melancholy, if you are solitary.

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

That's one of the greatest curses ever inflicted on the human race, memory.

Time is generally the best doctor.

He is a foolish swimmer who swims against the stream, when he might take the current sideways.

Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. Have patience and endure; this unhappiness will one day be beneficial.

Difficulty is what wakes up the genius.

Fortune and love favor the brave.

Make good use of your time, it flies fast.

Our integrity is never worth so much as when we have parted with our all to keep it.

When a rose dies, a thorn is left behind.

There is no useful thing which may not be turned to an injurious purpose.

Tears at times have the weight of speech.

All love is vanquished by a succeeding love.

Burdens become light when cheerfully borne.

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.

Simplicity is a jewel rarely found.

Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.

How little you know about the age you live in if you think that honey is sweeter than cash in hand

Tears are at times as eloquent as words. [Weeping hath a voice.]

A field becomes exhausted by constant tillage.

Love and dignity do not dwell together.

Beauty is a fragile gift.

Skill makes love unending.

The cause is hidden, but the result is known. [Lat., Causa latet: vis est notissima.]

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

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.

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

"Gutta cavat lapidem." (Dripping water carves a stone.)

Often a silent face has voice and words.

Misfortunes often sharpen the genius.

Those gifts are ever more precious which the giver has made precious.

A wealthy traveller fears an ambush, while one with empty pockets journeys on in safety.

What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Persevere.

If you are not ready today, you will be even less so tomorrow.

If God be my friend, I cannot be wretched.

There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it.

Some wounds grow worse beneath the surgeon's hand; Better that they were not touched at all.

I shall speak facts; but some will say I deal in fiction.

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop

Occupy yourself, and you will be out of harm's way.

Nothing is stronger than habit.

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

Love is no assignment for cowards.

Habits change into character.

As the yellow gold is tried in fire, so the faith of friendship must be seen in adversity.

If thou wouldst marry wisely, marry thine equal.

Pure women are only those who have not been asked.

There is nothing in the whole world which abides. All things are in a state of ebb and flow, and every shadow passes away. Even time itself, like a river, is constantly gliding away .

As the hawk is wont to pursue the trembling doves.

Those things that nature denied to human sight, she revealed to the eyes of the soul.

Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.

All other creatures look down toward the earth, but man was given a face so that might turn his eyes toward the stars and his gaze upon the sky.

The purpose of law is to prevent the strong always having their way.

Whilst you are prosperous you can number many friends; but when the storm comes you are left alone.

Well has he lived who has lived well in obscurity.

At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.

There is a God within us, and we glow when He stirs us.

The high-spirited man may indeed die, but he will not stoop to meanness. Fire, though it may be quenched, will not become cool.

There is no excellence uncoupled with difficulties.

This also, that I live, I consider a gift of God.