Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. He enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, he was sent by Augustus into exile...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
blow suffering proximity
We suffer by our proximity. [Who get a blow intended for another.]
snow add balls
Every one who repeats it adds something to the scandal. [The rolling snow-ball.]
drink thirst
The more they drink the more they thirst.
desire coveting strive
We are always striving for things forbidden, and coveting those denied us.
sweet poison honey
Deadly poisons are concealed under sweet honey.
care may thieves
We covet what is guarded; the very care invokes the thief. Few love what they may have.
men mind deeds
According to the state of a man's conscience, so do hope and fear on account of his deeds arise in his mind.
light cheerfulness load
That load becomes light which is cheerfully borne.
strong medicine evil
Resist beginnings: it is too late to employ medicine when the evil has grown strong by inveterate habit.
beauty years frail
A frail gift is beauty, which grows less as time draws on, and is devoured by its own years.
beauty modesty strife
Great is the strife between beauty and modesty.
mad desire
Mad desire, when it has the most, longs for more
mind disease
Diseases of the mind impair the bodily powers.
swimming water hook
He who holds the hook is aware in what waters many fish are swimming.