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)
The good of other times let people state; I think it lucky I was born so late.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Past, The Past
Sleep, thou repose of all things; thou gentlest of the duties; thou peace of the mind, from which care flies; who dost soothe the hearts of men wearied with the toils of the day, and refittest them for labor.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Sleep
Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.
—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
The drop hollows the stone not by force but by often falling.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Mistakes
Keep a mid course between two extremes.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Moderation
Everything changes, nothing perishes.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Change
Bear patiently with a rival.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Enemy, Enemies
Bear and endure: This sorrow will one day prove to be for your good.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Sorrow, Sadness
It is annoying to be honest to no purpose.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Honesty
Alas! How difficult it is to prevent the countenance from betraying guilt!
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Guilt
How little is the promise of the child fulfilled in the man.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Children
Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven; darkness makes any woman fair.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Night
That tuneful nymph, the babbling echo, who has not learned to conceal what is told her, nor yet is able to speak till another speaks.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
The time will come when it will disgust you to look in the mirror.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Appearance
The brave find a home in every land.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Brave
Well has he lived who has lived well in obscurity.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Solitude
Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Time
Love is full of anxious fears.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Worry, Anxiety
Envy assails the noblest: the winds howl around the highest peaks.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Jealousy, Envy
Time is a stream which glides smoothly on and is past before we know.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Time Management
Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Persistence, Perseverance
Neglect of appearance becomes men.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Appearance
Nothing in the entire universe ever perishes, believe me, but things vary, and adopt a new form. The phrase being born is used for beginning to be something different from what one was before, while dying means ceasing to be the same. Though this thing may pass into that, and that into this, yet the sums of things remains unchanged.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: The Universe
The good are heaven’s peculiar care.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Goodness
Gifts, believe me, captivate both men and Gods, Jupiter himself was won over and appeased by gifts.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Gifts
Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Health, Medicine
An evil life is a kind of death.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Death, Dying
A short absence is the safest.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Absence
The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Ancestors, Family, One liners, Ancestry
Envy feeds on the living, after death it rests, then the honor of a man protects him.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Envy
Always have your hook baited, in the pool you least think, there will be a fish.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Opportunity
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
In sweet water there is a pleasure ungrudged by anyone.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: One liners, Water
She half consents, who silently denies.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Chance is always powerful. – Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Let love give way to business; give attention to business and you will be safe.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Business
A prince should be slow to punish, and quick to reward.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Leadership, Leaders
Remove the temptation of idleness and cupids bow is useless.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Temptation
There is no excellency without difficulty.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Topics: Excellence
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