Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
What we call birth Is but a beginning to be something else Than what we were before; and when we cease To be that something, then we call it death.
Devouring Time and envious Age, all things yield to you; and with lingering death you destroy, step by step, with venomed tooth whatever you attack.
If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power carries me off in spite of myself; love leads me one way, my understanding another.
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination. [Lat., Factis ignoscite nostris Si scelus ingenio scitis abesse meo.]
I grabbed a pile of dust, and holding it up, foolishly asked for as many birthdays as the grains of dust, I forgot to ask that they be years of youth.
An anthill increases by accumulation. Medicine is consumed by distribution. That which is feared lessens by association. This is the thing to understand.
Adde, quod ingénues didicisse fideliter artes Emollit mores, nec sinit esse fervos. To be instructed in the arts, softens the manners and makes men gentle.
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.
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.
This letter gives me a tongue; and were I not allowed to write, I should be dumb. [Lat., Praebet mihi littera linguam: Et, si non liceat scribere, mutus ero.]
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.
We beg one hour of death, that neither she With widow's tears may live to bury me, Nor weeping I, with wither'd arms, may bear My breathless Baucis to the sepulchre.
Wine, not too much, inspires and make the mind,to the soft joys of Venus strong inclined,which, buried in excess, unapt to love,stupidly lies and knows not hom to move
The god we now behold with opened eyes, A herd of spotted panthers round him lies In glaring forms; the grapy clusters spread On his fair brows, and dangle on his head.
Those dreams are true which we have in the morning, as the lamp begins to flicker. [Lat., Namque sub Aurora jam dormitante lucerna Sommia quo cerni tempore vera solent.]
With wavering steps does fickle fortune stray, Nowhere she finds a firm and fixed abode; But now all smiles, and now again all frowns, She's constant only in inconstancy.
When worse may yet befall, there's room for prayer, But when our fortune's at its lowest ebb, We trample fear beneath our feet, and live Without a fear of evil yet to come.
Struggling over my fickle heart, love draws it now this way, and now hate that--but love, I think, is winning. I will hate, if I have strength; if not, I shall love unwilling.
Take this at least, this last advice, my son: Keep a stiff rein, and move but gently on: The coursers of themselves will run too fast, Your art must be to moderate their haste.
Nothing is so high and above all danger that is not below and in the power of God. [Lat., Nihil ita sublime est, supraque pericula tendit Non sit ut inferius suppositumque deo.]
As long as you are lucky, you will have many friends; if cloudy times appear, you will be alone. -Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos; tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris
Thou fool, what is sleep but the image of death? Fate will give an eternal rest. [Lat., Stulte, quid est somnus, gelidae nisi mortis imago? Longa quiescendi tempora fata dabunt.]
Tis on the living Envy feeds. She silent grows When, after death, man's honor is his guard. So I, when on the pyre consumed I lie, Shall live, for all that's noblest will survive.
Friendship is but a name, faith is an empty name. Alas, it is not safe to praise to a friend the object of your love; as soon as he believes your praises, he slips into your place.
When all the other animals, downcast looked upon the earth, he [Prometheus] gave a face raised on high to man, and commanded him to see the sky and raise his high eyes to the stars.
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.]
While strength and years permit, endure labor; soon bent old age will come with silent foot. [Lat., Dum vires annique sinunt, tolerate labores. Jam veniet tacito curva senecta pede.]
When a house is tottering to its fall, The strain lies heaviest on the weakest part, One tiny crack throughout the structure spreads, And its own weight soon brings it toppling down.
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 .
If thou wishest to put an end to love, attend to business (love yields to employment); then thou wilt be safe. [Lat., Qui finem quaeris amoris, (Cedit amor rebus) res age; tutus eris.]
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.
The mind is sicker than the sick body; in contemplation of its sufferings it becomes hopeless. [Lat., Corpore sed mens est aegro magis aegra; malique In circumspectu stat sine fine sui.]
The wounded limb shrinks from the slightest touch; and a slight shadow alarms the nervous. [Lat., Membra reformidant mollem quoque saucia tactum: Vanaque sollicitis incutit umbra metum.]
Beneath the sun's rays our shadow is our comrade; When clouds obscure the sun our shadow flees. So Fortune's smiles the fickle crowd pursues, But swift is gone whenever she veils her face.
By arts, sails, and oars, ships are rapidly moved; arts move the light chariot, and establish love. [Lat., Arte citae veloque rates remoque moventur; Arte levis currus, arte regendus Amor.]
I have never injured anybody with a mordant poem; my verse contains charges against nobody. Ingenuous, I have shunned wit steeped in venom--not a letter of mine is dipped in poisonous jest.
Ovid lies here, the poet, skilled in love's gentle sport; By his own talents he worked his undoing. Oh, you who pass by, if ever you have loved, Think it not a burden to wish him calm repose.
May you live unenvied, and pass many pleasant years unknown to fame; and also have congenial friends. [Lat., Vive sine invidia, mollesque inglorius annos Exige; amicitias et tibi junge pares.]
Money nowadays is money; money brings office; money gains friends; everywhere the poor man is down. [Lat., In pretio pretium nunc est; dat census honores, Census amicitias; pauper ubique jacet.]
The dove, O hawk, that has once been wounded by thy talons, is frightened by the least movement of a wing. [Lat., Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis.]
As God is propitiated by the blood of a hundred bulls, so also is he by the smallest offering of incense. [Lat., Sed tamen ut fuso taurorum sanguine centum, Sic capitur minimo thuris honore deux.]
Face troubles from their birth, for 'tis too late to cure When long delay has given the evil strength. Haste then; postpone not to the coming hour: tomorrow He'll be less ready who's not ready now.
Man should ever look to his last day, and no one should be called happy before his funeral. [Lat., Ultima semper Expectanda dies homini est, dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo et suprema funera debet.]
In your judgment virtue requires no reward, and is to be sought for itself, unaccompanied by external benefits. [Lat., Judice te mercede caret, per seque petenda est Externis virtus incomitata bonis.]
Tempore difficiles veniunt ad aratra juvenci; Tempore lenta pati frena docentur equi. In time the unmanageable young oxen come to the plough; in time the horses are taught to endure the restraining bit.
Our native land charms us with inexpressible sweetness, and never never allows us to forget that we belong to it. [Lat., Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine captos Ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui.]
Writings survive the years; it is by writings that you know Agamemnon, and those who fought for or against him. [Lat., Scripta ferunt annos; scriptis Agamemnona nosti, Et quisquis contra vel simul arma tulit.]
Ah me! how easy it is (how much all have experienced it) to indulge in brave words in another person's trouble. [Lat., Hei mihi, quam facile est (quamvis hic contigit omnes), Alterius lucta fortia verba loqui!]
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.
Truly it is allowed us to weep: by weeping we disperse our wrath; and tears go through the heart, even like a stream. [Lat., Flere licet certe: flendo diffundimus iram: Perque sinum lacrimae, fluminis instar enim.]