WIST

Happy is he who dares courageously to defend what he loves.

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Amores, II.5

Nocte latent mendae, vitioque ignoscitur omni, Horaque formosam quamlibet illa facit.
[Blemishes are hidden by night and every fault forgiven; darkness makes any woman fair.]

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Ars Amatoria I.249-250

Expedit esse deos et ut expedit esse putemus.
[We need to think there to be gods and, since it is expedient, let us think that there are gods.]

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Ars Amatoria I.637

If you want to be loved, be lovable.

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Ars Amatoria II.107

Prisca juvent alios; ego me nunc denique natum Gratulor.
[Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.]

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Ars Amatoria III.121
Trans. by Sydney Smith: "The good of other times let people state; I think it lucky I was born so late."

Gratis paenitet esse probum
[A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.]

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Ex Ponto, Bk 2, ch 3
Trans. Henry T. Riley. Alt. translation (Bartlett): "It is annoying to be honest to no purpose."

Thy lot is mortal, but thy wishes fly
Beyond the province of mortality.

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Metamorphoses, I.69-70, “The Story of Phaeton”
Garth trans. Alternate translation: "Thy destiny is only that of man, but thy aspirations may be those of a god."

Medio tutissimis ibis.
[You will go most safely by the middle way.]

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Metamorphoses, II.137 “The Story of Phaeton”

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees –
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Metamorphosis, XV.155 “The Worship of
Trans. by Dryden

If Jupiter hurled his thunderbolt as often as men sinned, he would soon be out of thunderbolts.

Ovid (43 BC-AD 17) Roman poet [Publius Ovidius Naso]
Tristia, 2.33-34