Virgil Quotes

O you who have borne even heavier things, to these too, God will grant an end!

The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.

Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.

O accursed hunger of gold, to what dost thou not compel human hearts!

Over nine whole acres while a huge, horrendous Vulture puddles forever with hooked beak In his liver and entrails teeming with raw pain. It burrows deep below the breastbone, feeding And foraging without respite, for the gnawed-at Gut and gutstrings keep renewing.

There's a snake hidden in the grass.

Love conquers all; therefore, let us submit to love.

Harsh necessity, and the newness of my kingdom, force me to do such things and to guard my frontiers everywhere.

I will be gone from here and sing my songs/ In the forest wilderness where the wild beasts are,/ And carve in letters on the little trees/ The story of my love, and as the trees/ Will grow letters too will grow, to cry/ In a louder voice the story of my love.

Fury itself supplies arms.

Even virtue is fairer when it appears in a beautiful person.

Nunc scio quit sit amor." Lat., "Now I know what love is.

A woman is an ever fickle and changeable thing.

Impotent fury rages powerless and to no purpose.

Perhaps the day may come when we shall remember these sufferings with joy.

All things by nature are ready to get worse

Rhoetus was fully awake; he saw all that occurred but was hiding, 345 Watching in fear from behind a huge bowl where the wine had been blended. But he arose as the enemy neared and Euryalus plunged his Blade hilt-deep in his chest, then withdrew. Death came in abundance. Spewing the crimson of life, he returns to the bowl a new mixture: Wine and his blood as he dies.

Womankind Is ever a fickle and a changeful thing.

Oh you who are born of the gods, easy is the descent into Hell. The door of darkness stands open day and night. But to retrace your steps, and come back out into the brightness above, that is the work, that is the labor.

But, ... we should first learn the winds and the nature of the sky, the customary cultivation and the ways of the place. What each region bears and rejects. Here corn shoots up, and there grapes do. Elsewhere young trees grow strong and the wild grasses.

There should be no strife with the vanquished or the dead.

Duty bound, Aeneas, though he struggled with desire to calm and comfort her in all her pain, to speak to her and turn her mind from grief, and though he sighed his heart out, shaken still with love if her, yet took the course heaven gave him and turned back to the fleet.

Every man makes a god of his own desire.

One man excels in eloquence, another in arms.

Trust the expert. -Experto credite

A fickle and changeful thing is a woman ever.

Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
(The gates of Hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this task and mighty labor lies.)

Fortunate is he whose mind has the power to probe the causes of things and trample underfoot all terrors and inexorable fate.

They can conquer who belive they can.

It is well to be informed about the winds, About the variations in the sky, The native traits and habits of the place, What each locale permits, and what denies.

Such words he utters, and sick with deep distress he feigns hope on his face, and keeps his anguish hidden deep in his breast.

Yet here, this night, you might repose with me, On green leaves pillowed: apples ripe have I, Soft chestnuts, and of curdled milk enow. And, see, the farm-roof chimneys smoke afar, And from the hills the shadows lengthening fall!

From my example learn to be just, and not to despise the gods.

Then, like ravening wolves in a black mist, when the belly's lawless rage has driven them blindly forth, and their whelps at home await them with thirsty jaws, through swords, through foes we pass to certain death, and hold our way to the city's heart; black night hovers around with sheltering shade.

Night reigned: all through the world tied bodies were harvesting tranquil slumber.

A fault is fostered by concealment.

Mantua gave me birth, Calabri snatched me away, now Parthenope holds me; I sang of shepherds, pastures, and heroes. -Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope, cecini pascua, rura, duces

Each person, makes their own terrible passion their God.

We are not all able to do all things.

The accursed hunger for gold.

No stranger to misfortune myself, I have learned to relieve the sufferings of others.

Friend, have the courage
To care little for wealth, and shape yourself,
You too, to merit godhead.

Here, too, the honorable finds its due
and there are tears for passing things; here, too,
things mortal touch the mind.

Thus shall you go to the stars.

Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused.

When gods are contrary they stand by no one.

Myself acquainted with misfortune, I learn to help the unfortunate.

Want of pluck shows want of blood.

The dewy night unrolls a heaven thickly jewelled with sparkling stars

That which an enraged woman can accomplish.

Let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less tedious.

Look with favor upon a bold beginning.

A shifty, fickle object is woman, always. (Varium et mutabile semper femina.)

Each draws to his best-loved.

Others may fashion more smoothly images of bronze (I for one believe it), evoke living faces from marble, plead causes better, trace with a wand the wanderings of the heavens and foretell the rising of stars. But you, Roman, remember to rule the peoples with power (these will be your arts); impose the habit of peace, spare the vanquished and war down the proud!

A fickle and changeful thing is woman ever

Swift is her walk, more swift her winged haste: A monstrous phantom, horrible and vast. As many plumes as raise her lofty flight, So many piercing eyes inlarge her sight; Millions of opening mouths to Fame belong, And ev'ry mouth is furnish'd with a tongue, And round with list'ning ears the flying plague is hung. She fills the peaceful universe with cries; No slumbers ever close her wakeful eyes; By day, from lofty tow'rs her head she shews, And spreads thro' trembling crowds disastrous news; With court informers haunts, and royal spies; Things done relates, not done she feigns, and mingles truth with lies. Talk is her business, and her chief delight To tell of prodigies and cause affright.

Passion and strife bow down the mind.

Love begets love, love knows no rules, this is same for all.

Persevere and preserve yourselves for better circumstances.

Twice ten fat oxen to the ships she sends; Besides a hundred boars, a hundred lambs, With bleating cries, attend their milky dams; And jars of gen'rous wine and spacious bowls She gives, to cheer the sailors' drooping souls. Now purple hangings clothe the palace walls, And sumptuous feasts are made in splendid halls: On Tyrian carpets, richly wrought, they dine; With loads of massy plate the sideboards shine, And antique vases, all of gold embossed (The gold itself inferior to the cost), Of curious work, where on the sides were seen The fights and figures of illustrious men, From their first founder to the present queen.

From one learn all.

Time flies never to be recalled.

Fear is the proof of a degenerate mind.

The flocks fear the wolf, the crops the storm, and the trees the wind.

As the twig is bent the tree inclines.

Every man's last day is fixed. Lifetimes are brief, and not to be regained, for all mankind. But by their deeds to make their fame last: that is labor for the brave.

Optima dies ... prima fugit
(The best days are the first to flee)

Spare the meek, but subdue the arrogant.

Happy he who was able to know the causes of things (felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas), and who trampled beneath his feet all fears, inexorable fate, and the roar of devouring hell.

They are able because they think they are able.

Cease to think that the decrees of the gods can be changed by prayers.

It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be.

E'en in mid-harvest, while the jocund swain Pluck'd from the brittle stalk the golden grain, Oft have I seen the war of winds contend, And prone on earth th' infuriate storm descend, Waste far and wide, and by the roots uptorn, The heavy harvest sweep through ether borne, As light straw and rapid stubble fly In dark'ning whirlwinds round the wintry sky.

To what crime do you not drive the hearts of men, accursed hunger for gold?

He like a rock in the sea unshaken stands his ground.

The hour is ripe, and yonder lies the way.

If I am unable to make the gods above relent, I shall move hell.

Trust one who has gone through it.

Treating others with kindness is the first magical act the magician learns and the last one he masters.

Time passes irrevocably.

Let not our proposal be disregarded on the score of our youth.

In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used?

What madness destroyed me and you, Orpheus?

Just as, all too often, some huge crowd is seized by a vast uprising, the rabble runs amok, all slaves to passion, rocks, firebrands flying. Rage finds them arms but then, if they chance to see a man among them, one whose devotion and public service lend him weight, they stand there, stock-still with their ears alert as he rules their furor with words and calms their passion.

Sing in me, muse, of arms and a man, who first from the shores of Troy.

Distraught I seize mine arms ... And with my comrades hasten to the hold: frenzy and anger urge my headlong will, and death methinks how comely, sword in hand!

Consider what each soil will bear, and what each refuses.

Confidence cannot find a place wherein to rest in safety.

Audaces fortuna iuvat (latin)- Fortune favors the bold.

Endure and save yourselves for happier times.

The Britons are quite separated from all the world.

That man is the most loyal who aims at the noblest motive, and that motive the public good.

Your descendants shall gather your fruits.

As a twig is bent the tree inclines.

Vera incessu patuit dea.
(The goddess indubitable was revealed in her step.)

But meanwhile time flies; it flies never to be regained.

If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell.

Not being untutored in suffering, I learn to pity those in affliction

Wherever the fates lead us let us follow.