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
inspirational mean ends
The end doesn't justify the means.
habit pursuit
Pursuits become habits.
military inspiration love-is
Love is a kind of military service
grief tears satisfaction
There is a certain pleasure in weeping; grief finds in tears both a satisfaction and a cure.
victory ruins
This victory will be your I ruin.
envy vices creeps
Envy, the meanest of vices, creeps on the ground like a serpent.
long joy delay
Every delay that postpones our joys, is long. [Lat., Longa mora est nobis omnis, quae gaudia differt.]
military coward wish
It is the act of a coward to wish for death.
stars eye men
All other creatures look down toward the earth, but man was given a face so that might turn his eyes toward the stars and his gaze upon the sky.
powerful united
Things which of themselves avail nothing, when united become powerful.
deeds crime absent
Overlook our deeds, since you know that crime was absent from our inclination. [Lat., Factis ignoscite nostris Si scelus ingenio scitis abesse meo.]
hate sight mirrors
The time will come when you will hate the sight of a mirror.
kind pleasure certain
There is a certain kind of pleasure in weeping.
broken bows leisure
Take away leisure and Cupid's bow is broken