Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (Roman Poet)

Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BCE–18 CE,) better known as Ovid, was a Roman poet and mythographer. He is considered one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature along with Virgil and Horace.

Ovid is best known for his 15-book epic narrative poem Metamorphoses (Transformations,) one of the pivotal works of Western literature, and the erotic elegy Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love.”)

Ovid was born in Sulmo, 90 miles east of Rome. His father sent him to Rome to study rhetoric. However, Ovid chose to be a poet rather than an orator or a lawyer. He burst into the Roman literary scene after publishing Ars Amatoria, poems about amorous dalliances.

Ovid then started writing the Metamorphoses, a 12,000-line seriocomic poem that spans the mythological history from creation to the assassination and apotheosis of Julius Caesar. This anthology of Greek and Roman myths and legends showcased Ovid’s wit, invention, and the expressive power of his poetry.

As Ovid was finishing Metamorphoses, he was banished from Rome possibly because his erotic poetry was judged offensive in the context of the austere, old Roman values that Emperor Augustus was determined to revive. Or Ovid was probably blamed as an unwitting accomplice for corrupting the emperor’s granddaughter, who was also exiled at the same time for having an affair with a Roman Senator.

Ovid moved to Tomis, the ancient but far-flung Black Sea commune, now the Romanian port city of Constanța. Ovid remained there until his death a decade later. In exile, Ovid composed a series of poems, Tristia (The Sorrows,) intended to gain his way back into the good graces of the Augustus, and his successor Tiberius, but to no avail.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

Whether they give or refuse, it delights women just the same to have been asked.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Women

Sleep … peace of the soul, who puttest care to flight.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Sleep, Relaxation

Daring is not safe against daring men.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Risk

Burdens become light when cheerfully borne.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Cheerfulness

Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Bravery, Courage

Time is a stream which glides smoothly on and is past before we know.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Time Management

To be silent is but a small virtue; but it is a serious fault to reveal secrets.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Silence

Fortune and love befriend the bold.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Persistence, Perseverance

God gave man an upright countenance to survey the heavens, and to look upward to the stars.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: God

Well has he lived who has lived well in obscurity.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Solitude

Alternate rest and labor long endure.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Rest

Happy the man who can count his sufferings.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Blessings

Wine gives courage and makes men more apt for passion.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Wine, Alcohol

Had I not sinned what would there be for you to pardon. My fate has given you the opportunity for mercy.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Sin

Those gifts are ever the most acceptable
that are made precious by the giver.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

Nothing is more powerful than habit.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Custom

Happy the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying, once and for all.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Worry

How in the looks does conscious guilt appear.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

There is no less merit in keeping what we have got, than in first acquiring it. Chance has something to do with the one, while the other will always be the effect of skill.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Riches

Happy the man who ventures boldly to defend what he holds dear.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Courage, Happiness

Whether you call my heart affectionate, or you call it womanish: I confess, that to my misfortune, it is soft.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Heart

What is without periods of rest will not endure.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Rest, Leisure

While prosperous you can number many friends; but when the storm comes you are left alone.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Prosperity

Love is full of anxious fears.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Worry, Anxiety

The mind grows sicker than the body in contemplation of it’s suffering.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Suffering

Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Time

If any person wish to be idle, let them fall in love.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Love

‘Tis best to be silent in a bad cause.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Silence

There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Worry, Pleasure, Realistic Expectations, Acceptance, Anxiety

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