Ancient Poet Quotes

Virgil

Ovid

Horace

Catullus

Pindar

Propertius

Anacreon

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.

Niobe would have been called most blessed of mothers,
had she not seemed so herself.

Some man of ages past
Observed their goings; and devised their titles,
Forming the constellations. For the name
Of each star singly none could tell or learn; —
So numerous are they everywhere, and many
Of the same size and color, as they roll.
Thus he bethought him to combine them so,
That, ranged in neighborhood, they might present
Images, — each taking his proper name,
And henceforth none rising to doubt or guess at.

To this point is my mind reduced by your fault, Lesbia, and has so ruined itself by its own devotion, that now it can neither wish you well though you should become the best of women, nor cease to love you though you do the worst that can be done.

Far from Italy, far from my native Tarentum I lie; and this is the worst of it—worse than death. An exile's life is no life. But the Muses loved me. For my suffering they gave me a honeyed gift: My name survives me. Thanks to the sweet Muses Leonidas will echo throughout all time.

Leonidas of Tarentum

What life is there, what delight, without golden Aphrodite?

It is a part of probability that many improbable things will happen.

This tale is not true: you [Helen] did not even board the well-benched ships, and you did not go to the citadel of Troy.

It was divine nature which gave us the country, and man's skill that built the cities.

Marcus Terentius Varro

Not in hewn stones, nor in well-fashioned beams,
Not in the noblest of the builder's dreams,
But in courageous men of purpose great,
There is the fortress, there the living State.

Alcaeus of Mytilene

From all the offspring of the earth and heaven love is the most precious.

No man takes with him to Hades all his exceeding wealth.

Theognis of Megara

Thus, while I quaff the genial wine, I live mid transports quite divine.

Once thou art wed, no longer canst thou be
Lord of thyself.

Whoever he was who first depicted Amor as a boy, don't you think it was a wonderful touch? He was the first to see that lovers live without sense.

Zeus, the father of the Olympic Gods, turned mid-day into night, hiding the light of the dazzling Sun; and sore fear came upon men.

May I look on thee when my last hour comes; may I hold thy hand, as I sink, in my dying clasp.

Thus sees the clown, or thinks he can descry
The new moon breaking through a cloudy sky.

Apollonius of Rhodes

Let the person who wins be him who says what is most desirable for the city.

To our own sorrows serious heed we give, But for another?s we soon cease to grieve.

Wise were the kings who never chose a friend till with full cups they had unmasked his soul, and seen the bottom of his deepest thoughts.