A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.
More quotes from Ovid
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 more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled.
No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us. Our integrity is never worth so much as when we have parted with our all to keep it.
Whether they give or refuse, it delights women just the same to have been asked.
Whether you call my heart affectionate, or you call it womanish: I confess, that to my misfortune, it is soft.
Note too that a faithful study of the liberal arts humanizes character and permits it not to be cruel.
Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.
Love is a credulous thing.
The penalty may be removed, the crime is eternal.
If any person wish to be idle, let them fall in love.
My hopes are not always realized, but I always hope.
He who can believe himself well, will be well.
Every lover is a soldier.
Art lies by its own artifice.
What is now reason was formerly impulse or instinct.
Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven; darkness makes any woman fair.
Everyone’s a millionaire where promises are concerned.
Bear and endure: This sorrow will one day prove to be for your good.
Cunning leads to knavery. It is but a step from one to the other, and that very slippery. Only lying makes the difference; add that to cunning, and it is knavery.
How little is the promise of the child fulfilled in the man.
Death is less bitter punishment than death’s delay.
The lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean.
Jupiter from on high smiles at the perjuries of lovers.
The cause is hidden; the effect is visible to all.
The will is commendable though the ability may be wanting.
What is deservedly suffered must be borne with calmness, but when the pain is unmerited, the grief is resistless.
The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.
Time is the devourer of all things.
Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
Love is a kind of warfare.
Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish.
First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, “I believe,” three times.
Little things please little minds.
Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs.
Thou seest how sloth wastes the sluggish body, as water is corrupted unless it moves.
Nowadays nothing but money counts: a fortune brings honors, friendships; the poor man everywhere lies low.
A prince should be slow to punish, and quick to reward.
The good of other times let people state; I think it lucky I was born so late.
You can learn from anyone even your enemy.
At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.
The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.
Luck affects everything. Let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it there will be a fish.
Love and dignity cannot share the same abode.
Either do not attempt at all, or go through with it.
Most safely shall you tread the middle path.
An evil life is a kind of death.
He who says o’er much I love not is in love.
First appearance deceives many.
In an easy matter. Anybody can be eloquent.
Enhance and intensify one’s vision of that synthesis of truth and beauty which is the highest and deepest reality.
The bold adventurer succeeds the best.
Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.
Envy aims very high.
What makes men indifferent to their wives is that they can see them when they please.
An anthill increases by accumulation. Medicine is consumed by distribution. That which is feared lessens by association. This is the thing to understand.
A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.
It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are.
There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it.
Why should I go into details, we have nothing that is not perishable except what our hearts and our intellects endows us with.
All things can corrupt when minds are prone to evil.
The spirited horse, which will try to win the race of its own accord, will run even faster if encouraged.
Make the workmanship surpass the materials.
If you want to be loved, be lovable.
He whom all hate all wish to see destroyed.
Fair peace becomes men; ferocious anger belongs to beasts.
Against the bold, daring is unsafe.
Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again.
Alas! how difficult it is not to betray one’s guilt by one’s looks.
Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.
Where belief is painful we are slow to believe.
Give way to your opponent; thus will you gain the crown of victory.
Take rest; a field that has rested gives a beautiful crop.
Time is generally the best doctor.
We are ever striving after what is forbidden, and coveting what is denied us.
The vulgar crowd values friends according to their usefulness.
Habits change into character.
Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.
The gods behold all righteous actions.
Nothing is more powerful than custom or habit.
What is it that love does to a woman? Without she only sleeps; with it alone, she lives.
Time, motion and wine cause sleep.
Fortune and love favor the brave.
Happy are those who dare courageously to defend what they love.
Bear patiently with a rival.
It is the poor man who’ll ever count his flock.
A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.
Time, the devourer of all things.
Venus favors the bold.
Minds that are ill at ease are agitated by both hope and fear.
The prayers of cowards fortune spurns.
Many women long for what eludes them, and like not what is offered them.
Neglect of appearance becomes men.
All love is vanquished by a succeeding love.
Everyone wishes that the man whom he fears would perish.
Love is full of anxious fears.
Those things that nature denied to human sight, she revealed to the eyes of the soul.
Men do not value a good deed unless it brings a reward.
Daring is not safe against daring men.
I attempt an arduous task; but there is no worth in that which is not a difficult achievement.
Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.
To feel our ills is one thing, but to cure them is another.
Majesty and love do not consort well together, nor do they dwell in the same place.
Use the occasion, for it passes swiftly.
A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.
Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.
It is annoying to be honest to no purpose.
People are slow to claim confidence in undertakings of magnitude.
Let me tell you I am better acquainted with you for a long absence, as men are with themselves for a long affliction: absence does but hold off a friend, to make one see him the truer.
Often they benefit who suffer wrong.
The heavier crop is ever in others’ fields.
In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are.
Beauty is a fragile gift.
There is a god within us.
Love is a thing that is full of cares and fears.
You will go most safely in the middle.
Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.
He who would not be idle, let him fall in love.
Like fragile ice anger passes away in time.
Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.
The burden which is well borne becomes light.
Let what is irksome become habitual, no more will it trouble you.
What is without periods of rest will not endure.
Tears at times have the weight of speech.