“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. ”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.”
"Be patient and tough; one day this pain will be useful to you.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Fas est ab hoste doceri.
One should learn even from one's enemies.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Omnia mutantur, nihil interit (everything changes, nothing perishes).”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“When he, whoever of the gods it was, had thus arranged in order and resolved that chaotic mass, and reduced it, thus resolved, to cosmic parts, he first moulded the Earth into the form of a mighty ball so that it might be of like form on every side … And, that no region might be without its own forms of animate life, the stars and divine forms occupied the floor of heaven, the sea fell to the shining fishes for their home, Earth received the beasts, and the mobile air the birds … Then Man was born:… though all other animals are prone, and fix their gaze upon the earth, he gave to Man an uplifted face and bade him stand erect and turn his eyes to heaven.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“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.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“God himself helps those who dare.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“As wave is driven by wave
And each, pursued, pursues the wave ahead,
So time flies on and follows, flies, and follows,
Always, for ever and new. What was before
Is left behind; what never was is now;
And every passing moment is renewed.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Love is the force that leaves you colorless”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Eurydice, dying now a second time, uttered no complaint against her husband. What was there to complain of, but that she had been loved?”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“My soul would sing of metamorphoses.
But since, o gods, you were the source of these
bodies becoming other bodies, breathe
your breath into my book of changes: may
the song I sing be seamless as its way
weaves from the world's beginning to our day.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Water belongs to us all. Nature did not make the sun one person's property, nor air, nor water, cool and clear.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“In the make-up of human beings, intelligence counts for more than our hands, and that is our true strength.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Venus of Eryx, from her mountain throne,
Saw Hades and clasped her swift-winged son, and said:
'Cupid, my child, my warrior, my power,
Take those sure shafts with which you conquer all,
And shoot your speedy arrows to the heart
Of the great god to whom the last lot fell
When the three realms were drawn. Your mastery
Subdues the gods of heaven and even Jove,
Subdues the ocean's deities and him,
Even him, who rules the ocean's deities.
Why should Hell lag behind? Why not there too
Extend your mother's empire and your own....?
Then Cupid, guided by his mother, opened
His quiver of all his thousand arrows
Selected one, the sharpest and the surest,
The arrow most obedient to the bow,
And bent the pliant horn against his knee
And shot the barbed shaft deep in Pluto's heart.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“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.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“And now the measure of my song is done:
The work has reached its end; the book is mine,
None shall unwrite these words: nor angry Jove,
Nor war, nor fire, nor flood,
Nor venomous time that eats our lives away.
Then let that morning come, as come it will,
When this disguise I carry shall be no more,
And all the treacherous years of life undone,
And yet my name shall rise to heavenly music,
The deathless music of the circling stars.
As long as Rome is the Eternal City
These lines shall echo from the lips of men,
As long as poetry speaks truth on earth,
That immortality is mine to wear.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“The god of Delos, proud in victory,
Saw Cupid draw his bow's taut arc, and said:
'Mischievous boy, what are a brave man's arms
To you? That gear becomes my shoulders best.
My aim is sure; I wound my enemies,
I wound wild beasts; my countless arrows slew
But now the bloated Python, whose vast coils
Across so many acres spread their blight.
You and your loves! You have your torch to light them!Let that content you; never claim my fame!'
And Venus' son replied: 'Your bow, Apollo,
May vanquish all, but mine shall vanquish you.
As every creature yields to power divine,
So likewise shall your glory yield to mine.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Right it is to be taught even by the enemy.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“...et ignotas animum dimittit in artes, naturamque nouat. (to arts unknown he bends his wits, and alters nature.)”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Even as a cow she was lovely.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“And besides, we lovers fear everything”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes.
And he sets his mind to unknown arts.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“You will go most safely by the middle way.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“She made up prayers and said them,
Worshipping unknown gods with unknown singing,
Her customary magic, which would cover
The white moon’s face and darken the sun with cloud.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“for no god may undo what another god has done...”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Ceza kaldırılabilir; ama suç insanın içinde sonsuza kadar yaşar.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
“Crédule enfant, à quoi bon ces vains efforts pour saisir une fugitive apparence? L'objet de ton désir n'existe pas! ... Cette ombre que tu vois, c'est le reflet de ton image.”
― Ovid, quote from The Metamorphoses
Ovid
Born place: in Sulmo, Italia, Roman Republic, Italy
Born date March 28, 0043
See more on GoodReads
“You've felt it, haven't you? Those feelings that seem to get so big in your chest, like something is so beautiful it aches?”
― Heather Anastasiu, quote from Glitch
“Things making you cry for no reason. There's nothing wrong with it. My mom says crying is just your body expelling all the bad stuff. Like a sneeze. Like your soul sneezing.”
― Jeff Garvin, quote from Symptoms of Being Human
“I’ve seen his eyes soften and sparkle in the moonlight. I’ve seen a smile crack those lips, heard a laugh ring from that broad chest. And yet, even in those few, untroubled moments, there’s always a certain gravitas to him, like he could stand in the middle of a battle and part the enemy’s line with one cool glare. (McKenzie)”
― Sandy Williams, quote from The Shadow Reader
“I think a friend is someone who helps you change for the better. And whether you see them once a day or once a year, if it’s a true friend, it doesn’t matter.”
― Kristin Levine, quote from The Lions of Little Rock
“I live in nature where everything is connected, circular. The seasons are circular. The planet is circular, and so is the planet around the sun. The course of water over the earth is circular coming down from the sky and circulating through the world to spread life and then evaporating up again. I live in a circular teepee and build my fire in a circle. The life cycles of plants and animals are circular. I live outside where I can see this. The ancient people understood that our world is a circle, but we modern people have lost site of that. I don’t live inside buildings because buildings are dead places where nothing grows, where water doesn’t flow, and where life stops. I don’t want to live in a dead place. People say that I don’t live in a real world, but it’s modern Americans who live in a fake world, because they have stepped outside the natural circle of life.
Do people live in circles today? No. They live in boxes. They wake up every morning in a box of their bedrooms because a box next to them started making beeping noises to tell them it was time to get up. They eat their breakfast out of a box and then they throw that box away into another box. Then they leave the box where they live and get into another box with wheels and drive to work, which is just another big box broken into little cubicle boxes where a bunch of people spend their days sitting and staring at the computer boxes in front of them. When the day is over, everyone gets into the box with wheels again and goes home to the house boxes and spends the evening staring at the television boxes for entertainment. They get their music from a box, they get their food from a box, they keep their clothing in a box, they live their lives in a box.
Break out of the box! This not the way humanity lived for thousands of years.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, quote from The Last American Man
The Emperor of All M...
Out Stealing Horses
Firestarter
Welcome to the Monke...
The Dovekeepers
The Twilight Saga Co...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
