Propertius Quotes

Let's give the historians something to write about

No rival will steal away my sure love; that glory will be my gray hair.

Tell me who is able to keep his bed chaste, or which goddess is able to live with one god alone?

By gold all good faith has been banished; by gold our rights are abused; the law itself is influenced by gold, and soon there will be an end of every modest restraint.

Even a faithful mistress can be bent by constant threats.

Love is fostered by confidence and constancy; he who is able to give much is able also to love much.

Let each man have the wit to go his own way.

I am climbing a difficult road; but the glory gives me strength.

Love can be put off, never abandoned.

Even if my strength should fail, my daring will win me praise: in might enterprises even the will to succeed is enough.

Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.

The eyes are the pioneers that first announce the soft tale of love.

Something greater than the Iliad now springs to birth -Nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade

Every man now worships gold, all other reverence being done away.

Faith is not sure, if you cannot turn love to quarrel; may my enemies obtain a mild mistress.

Love never offers to anyone wings so easy that he does not hold him back with his other hand.

The law itself follows gold.

Among absent lovers, ardor always fares better.

There is no wide road which leads to the Muses.

If she is pleasing to one man, a girl is taken care of.

Do not unto another that which you would not he should do unto you.

Age makes all things greater after their death; a name comes to the tongue easier from the grave.

Cupid is naked and does not like artifices contrived by beauty.

Not only the bull attacks his enemies with curved horn, but also the sheep, when harmed fights back.

Let each man pass his days in that endeavor wherein his gift is greatest.

To each man at his birth nature has given some fault.

Afflicted by love's madness all are blind.

You, O money, are the cause of a restless life! Because of you we journey toward a premature death; you provide cruel nourishment for the evils of men; the seed of our cares sprouts from your head.

In great things it is enough even to have willed.

Fame due to the achievements of the mind never perishes.

Beauty is fading, nor is fortune stable; sooner or later death comes to all.

Fickleness has always befriended the beautiful.

And nobility will not be able to help you with your love; Love does not know how to cede to ancestral images.

Love presses my head with carefully placed feet, wretch that he is, until he has taught me to detest chaste girls, and to live with no counsel.

In love, a verse of Mimnermus has more power than one of Homer.

I say as an expert, no one is faithful in love -Expertus dico, nemo est in amore fidelis

Make room, Roman writers, make room for Greek writers; something greater than the Iliad is born.

A cause breaks or exalts a soldier's strength; unless that cause is just, shame will make him throw his weapons away.

There is something beyond the grave; death does not end all, and the pale ghost escapes from the vanquished pyre.

Great is the height I just scale, but the prospect of glory gives me strength.

Allow me, whom Fortune always desires to bury, lay down my life in these final trivialities. Many have freely died in longlasting loves, among whose number may the earth cover me as well.

Never change when love has found its home.

Anyone who is an enemy of mine, let him love women, but let he who is my friend rejoice in men.

Always in absent lovers love's tide flows stronger.

That death is best which comes appropriately at a ripe age.

If you see anything, always deny that you've seen; or if perchance something pains you, deny that you're hurt.