Quotes from Ovid

you put too much faith in the power of the gods, if you think they can give and take away the shape of things

Should anyone here in Rome lack finesse at love-making, Let him Try me - read my book, and the results are guaranteed! Technique is the secret. Charioteer, sailor, oarsman, All need it. Technique can control Love himself.

I am compelled to speak of metamorphoses

Vulcan, the god who had forged his armour, had fired his body to ashes; all that remained of Achilles the great was a small amount of material, barely sufficient to fill an urn. But his fame lives on to fill the expanse of the whole wide world. His glory measures up to the man; it matches his noble self, untouched by shadowy Hades.

what we call birth is when something first changes out of its former condition, and what we call death is when its identity ceases; things may perhaps be translated hither and thither; nevertheless, they stay constant in their sum total

The result justifies the deed (Exitus acta probat)

Perhaps you think that there are sacred groves and cities of the gods along the way, temples displaying all the gifts of wealth? Not so: your path is full of lurking perils as well as images of savage beasts. "And if you hold this course unswervingly, you'll find the horns of Taurus in your way, 110 the Archer and the gaping jaws of Leo, and Scorpio, whose long and curving arms sweep one way, while the curving arms of Cancer sweep broadly in the opposite direction.

ego pulveris hausti ostendens cumulum, quot haberet corpora pulvis, tot mihi natales contingere vana rogavi; excidit, ut peterem iuvenes quoque protinus annos.

Time gliding by without our knowledge cheats us, and nothing can be swifter than the years.

He gazes at her lips, and knows that gazing Is not enough. He marvels at her fingers, Her hands, her wrists, her arms, bare to the shoulder, And what he does not see he thinks is better. But still she flees him, swifter than the wind

Since you can never be my bride, My tree at least you shall be! Let the laurel Adorn, henceforth, my hair, my lyre, my quiver: Let Roman victors, in the long procession, Wear laurel wreaths for triumph and ovation.

Let your hook be always cast in the pond. when you least expect it, there will be fish.

Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these

The workmanship was better than the subject matter.

The first thing to get in your head is that every single Girl can be caught - and that you'll catch her if You set your toils right. Birds will sooner fall dumb in Springtime, Cicadas in summer, or a hunting-dog Turn his back on a hare, than a lover's bland inducements Can fail with a woman, Even one you suppose Reluctant will want it.

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. Nothing can last, I do believe, for long In the same image.

My mind leads me to speak now of forms changed into new bodies: O gods above, inspire this undertaking (which you've changed as well) and guide my poem in its epic sweep from the world's beginning to the present day. The

Love is no assignment for cowards.

An animal more like the gods than these, more intellectually capable and able to control the other beasts, had not as yet appeared: now man was born, either

fear feeds fear when knowledge fails

Thence are we a hardy generation, and able to endure fatigue, and we give proofs from what original we are sprung.

I prate of ancient poets' monstrous lies, Ne'er seen or now or then by human eyes.

Ajax defending his honor when he fought against Troy along with Ulysses, who claimed his actions enabled the Greeks to be victorious. The chiefs side with Ulysses, and Ajax, having lost his honor as a warrior, draws his sword and proclaims: But this at least is mine, or does Ulysses claim this also for himself? This I must employ against myself; and the sword which has often reeked with Phrygian blood will now reek with its masters, lest any man but Ajax ever conquer Ajax.

Aliudque cupido, mens aliud suadet: video meliora proboque,deteriora sequor!