Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
That man is the most loyal who aims at the noblest motive, and that motive the public good.
Is there any pleasure in anger? Yes, if the fire of my anger appeases the ashes of my friends.
Do not yield to misfortunes, but advance more boldly to meet them, as your fortune permits you.
Amor vincit omnia, et nos cedamus amori. Love conquers all things, so we too shall yield to love.
You, Roman, remember to rule peoples with your power. -Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento
Trust not the horse, O Trojans. Be it what it may, I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts.
Live on in your blessings, your destiny's been won. But ours calls us on from one ordeal to the next.
What each man feared would happen to himself, did not trouble him when he saw that it would ruin another.
He is fortunate who had been able to learn the causes of things. -Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas
May the countryside and the gliding valley streams content me. Lost to fame, let me love river and woodland.
Harsh necessity, and the newness of my kingdom, force me to do such things and to guard my frontiers everywhere.
These passions of soul, these conflicts so fierce, will cease, and be repressed by the casting of a little dust.
The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.
Una Salus Victis Nullam Sperare Salutem - (Latin - written 19 BC) The only hope for the doomed, is no hope at all.
If ye despise the human race, and mortal arms, yet remember that there is a God who is mindful of right and wrong.
It is easy to go down into Hell...; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - -there's the rub.
The descent to the infernal regions is easy enough, but to retrace one's steps, and reach the air above, there's the rub.
Fortunate is he whose mind has the power to probe the causes of things and trample underfoot all terrors and inexorable fate.
And, just for good measure, here are a handful of runners up: For now the seventh summer carries you, A wanderer, across the lands and waters.
In his deepest heart there surge tremendous shame and madness mixed with sorrow and love whipped on by frenzy and a courage aware of its own worth.
Happy the person who has learned the cause of things and has put under his or her feet all fear, inexorable fate, and the noisy strife of the hell of greed.
In youth alone, unhappy mortals live; But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive: Discolour'd sickness, anxious labour, come, And age, and death's inexorable doom.
Don't trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts. -Equo ne credite, Teucri. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
It is well to be informed about the winds, About the variations in the sky, The native traits and habits of the place, What each locale permits, and what denies.
The gates of Hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way: but, to return, and view the cheerful skies; in this, the task and mighty labor lies.
It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task.
Roman, remember that you shall rule the nations by your authority, for this is to be your skill, to make peace the custom, to spare the conquered, and to wage war until the haughty are brought low.
Easy is the descent to hell; all night long, all day, the doors of dark Hades stand open; but to retrace the path; to come out again to the sweet air of Heaven - there is the task, there is the burden.
Mantua gave me birth, Calabri snatched me away, now Parthenope holds me; I sang of shepherds, pastures, and heroes. -Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope, cecini pascua, rura, duces
Oh you who are born of the gods, easy is the descent into Hell. The door of darkness stands open day and night. But to retrace your steps, and come back out into the brightness above, that is the work, that is the labor.
I will be gone from here and sing my songs/ In the forest wilderness where the wild beasts are,/ And carve in letters on the little trees/ The story of my love, and as the trees/ Will grow letters too will grow, to cry/ In a louder voice the story of my love.
Rumor goes forth at once, Rumor than whom No other speedier evil thing exists; She thrives by rapid movement, and acquires Strength as she goes; small at the first from fear, She presently uplifts herself aloft, And stalks upon the ground and hides her head Among the clouds.
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate had made him fugitive: he was the first to journey from the coasts of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores Across the lands and waters he was battered beneath the violence of the high ones for the savage Juno's unforgetting anger.
All these souls, after they have passed away a thousand years, are summoned by the divine ones in great array, to the lethean river. . . . In this way they become forgetful of the former earthlife, and re-visit the vaulted realms of the world, willing to return again into living bodies.
E'en in mid-harvest, while the jocund swain Pluck'd from the brittle stalk the golden grain, Oft have I seen the war of winds contend, And prone on earth th' infuriate storm descend, Waste far and wide, and by the roots uptorn, The heavy harvest sweep through ether borne, As light straw and rapid stubble fly In dark'ning whirlwinds round the wintry sky.
Others may fashion more smoothly images of bronze (I for one believe it), evoke living faces from marble, plead causes better, trace with a wand the wanderings of the heavens and foretell the rising of stars. But you, Roman, remember to rule the peoples with power (these will be your arts); impose the habit of peace, spare the vanquished and war down the proud!