79 Quotes About Roman

The Roman poet Publius Juventius Naso (46 BC – 8 AD), also known as Juventius, wrote the first surviving book of Latin verse. He was born in Apulia, Italy, and is most famous for his book of love poetry, Amores. Here are some of the best quotes on roman love poetry by Publius Juventius Naso.

1
I ran across an excerpt today (in English translation) of some dialogue/narration from the modern popular writer, Paulo Coelho in his book: Aleph.(Note: bracketed text is mine.).. 'I spoke to three scholars, ' [the character says 'at last.']. .two of them said that, after death, the [sic (misprint, fault of the publisher)] just go to Paradise. The third one, though, told me to consult some verses from the Koran. [end quote]'. .I can see that he's excited. [narrator]'. .Now I have many positive things to say about Coelho: He is respectable, inspiring as a man, a truth-seeker, and an appealing writer; but one should hesitate to call him a 'literary' writer based on this quote. A 'literary' author knows that a character's excitement should be 'shown' in his or her dialogue and not in the narrator's commentary on it. Advice for Coelho: Remove the 'I can see that he's excited' sentence and show his excitement in the phrasing of his quote.( Now, in defense of Coelho, I am firmly of the opinion, having myself written plenty of prose that is flawed, that a novelist should be forgiven for slipping here and there.) Lastly, it appears that a belief in reincarnation is of great interest to Mr. Coelho. . Just think! He is a man who has achieved, (as Leonard Cohen would call it), 'a remote human possibility.' He has won lots of fame and tons of money. And yet, how his preoccupation with reincarnation–none other than an interest in being born again as somebody else–suggests that he is not happy!. Roman Payne
2
Ô, Wanderess, WanderessWhen did you feel your most euphoric kiss? Was I the source of your greatest bliss? Roman Payne
Our lips were for each other and our eyes were...
3
Our lips were for each other and our eyes were full of dreams. We knew nothing of travel and we knew nothing of loss. Ours was a world of eternal spring, until the summer came. Roman Payne
4
Ô, Muse of the Heart’s Passion, let me relive my Love’s memory, to remember her body, so brave and so free, and the sound of my Dreameress singing to me, and the scent of my Dreameress sleeping by me, Ô, sing, sweet Muse, my soliloquy! Roman Payne
5
There are hours for rest, and hours for wakefulness; nights for sobriety and nights for drunkenness–(if only so that possession of the former allows us to discern the latter when we have it; for sad as it is, no human body can be happily drunk all the time). Roman Payne
6
I would have had to kill him, and Death, you know, keeps secrets better even than a guilty Roman. Unknown
7
The season was waning fast Our nights were growing cold at last I took her to bed with silk and song, ' Lay still, my love, I won’t be long; I must prepare my body for passion.'' O, your body you give, but all else you ration.'' It is because of these dreams of a sylvan scene: A bleeding nymph to leave me serene.. I have dreams of a trembling wench.'' You have dreams, ' she said, 'that cannot be quenched.'' Our passion, ' said I, 'should never be feared; As our longing for love can never be cured. Our want is our way and our way is our will, We have the love, my love, that no one can kill.'' If night is your love, then in dreams you’ll fulfill.. This love, our love, that no one can kill.' Yet want is my way, and my way is my will, Thus I killed my love with a sleeping pill. . Roman Payne
I like the posture, but not the yoga. I like...
8
I like the posture, but not the yoga. I like the inebriated morning, but not the opium. I like the flower but not the garden, the moment but not the dream. Quiet, my love. Be still. I am sleeping. Roman Payne
9
Did I live the spring I’d sought? It’s true in joy, I walked along, took part in dance, and sang the song.and never tried to bind an hourto my borrowed garden bower;nor did I once entreata day to slumber at my feet. Yet days aren’t lulled by lyric song, like morning birds they pass along, o’er crests of trees, to none belong;o’er crests of trees of drying dew, their larking flight, my hands, eschew Thus I’ll say it once and true… From all that I saw, and everywhere I wandered, I learned that time cannot be spent, It only can be squandered. Roman Payne
Be there a picnic for the devil, an orgy for...
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Be there a picnic for the devil, an orgy for the satyr, and a wedding for the bride. Roman Payne
We made love outdoors Without a roof, I like most,...
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We made love outdoors Without a roof, I like most, Without stove, to make love, assuming the weather be fair and balmy, and the earth beneath be clean. Our souls intertwined and gushing of dew. Roman Payne
12
English:Ô, take this eager dance you fool, don’t brandish your stick at me. I have several reasons to travel on, on to the endless sea: I have lost my love. I’ve drunk my purse. My girl has gone, and left me rags to sleep upon. These old man’s gloves conceal the hands with which I’ve killed but one! Francais: Idiot, prends cette danse ardente, au lieu de tendre ton bâton. J'en ai des raisons de voyager encore sur la mer infinie: J'ai perdu l'amour et j'ai bu ma bourse. Ma belle m'a quitté, j'ai ses haillons pour m'abriter. Mes gants de vieillard cachent les mains d'un fameux assassin! . Roman Payne
Women writers make for rewarding (and efficient) lovers. They are...
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Women writers make for rewarding (and efficient) lovers. They are clever liars to fathers and husbands; yet they never hold their tongues too long, nor keep ardent typing fingers still. Roman Payne
14
Who is better off? The one who writes to revel in the voluptuousness of the life that surrounds them? Or the one who writes to escape the tediousness of that which awaits them outside? Whose flame will last longer? Roman Payne
Rich will be my life if I can keep my...
15
Rich will be my life if I can keep my memories full and brimming, and record them on clear-eyed mornings while I set joyously to work setting pen to holy craft. Roman Payne
16
I just wish moments weren’t so fleeting! ' Isaac called to the man on the roof, 'They pass so quickly! ' 'Fleeting?! ' responded the tilling man, 'Moments? They pass quickly?! . Why, once a man is finished growing, he still has twenty years of youth. After that, he has twenty years of middle age. Then, unless misfortune strikes, nature gives him twenty thoughtful years of old age. Why do you call that quickly?' And with that, the tilling man wiped his sweaty brow and continued tilling; and the dejected Isaac continued wandering. 'Stupid fool! ' Isaac muttered quietly to himself as soon as he was far enough away not to be heard. . Roman Payne
You will not pass! ” Roman thundered. Great. Now he...
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You will not pass! ” Roman thundered. Great. Now he had decided he was Gandalf. Ilona Andrews
The lot of the brideto be wed before beddesired until...
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The lot of the brideto be wed before beddesired until rotten. The lot of the authorto be read before bedadmired then forgotten. Roman Payne
May a man live well-, and long-enough, to leave many...
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May a man live well-, and long-enough, to leave many joyful widows behind him. Roman Payne
I regained my soul through literature after those times I'd...
20
I regained my soul through literature after those times I'd lost it to wild-eyed gypsy girls on the European streets. Roman Payne
I was thinking,
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I was thinking, "So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I'll be able to make people read my books now. Robert Graves
22
Ô, the wine of a womanfrom heaven is sent, more perfect than allthat a man can invent. When she came to my bed and begged me with sighsnot to tempt her towards passion nor actions unwise, I told her I’d spare her and kissed her closed eyes, then unbraided her body of its clothing disguise. While our bodies were nude bathed in candlelight fine I devoured her mouth, tender lips divine;and I drank through her thighs her feminine wine.Ô, the wine of a woman from heaven is sent, more perfect than all that a man can invent. Roman Payne
Alexander the Great slept with 'The Iliad' beneath his pillow....
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Alexander the Great slept with 'The Iliad' beneath his pillow. During the waning moon, I cradle Homer’s 'Odyssey' as if it were the sweet body of a woman. Roman Payne
Fortune's fool! How we humans lie upon beauty like lizards...
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Fortune's fool! How we humans lie upon beauty like lizards upon a sun-baked rock. Roman Payne
25
This was how it was with travel: one city gives you gifts, another robs you. One gives you the heart’s affections, the other destroys your soul. Cities and countries are as alive, as feeling, as fickle and uncertain as people. Their degrees of love and devotion are as varying as with any human relation. Just as one is good, another is bad. Roman Payne
You have been missing from me for far too long.
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You have been missing from me for far too long. Belle Hale
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I am supposed to be an utter fool and the more I read the more of a fool they think me. Robert Graves
28
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
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Discover how to visit the past and bring yesterday's stories into our lives today Gillian Hovell
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Have I have played my part well in the comedy of life? If so, clap your hands and dismiss me from the stage with applause. Augustus
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If I have played my part well, clap your hands, and dismiss me with applause from the stage. Augustus
32
Hey, if you'd wanted to avoid 'this, ' you shouldn't have lured me last night. Now it's too late. You might as well avoid the long, drawn-out pain and get it over with quickly. Sort of like taking off a Band-Aid. Or cutting off a limb."" Wow, who says there's no romance left in the world? Richelle Mead
33
The word Familia did not originally signify the ideal of our modern philistine, which is a compound of sentimentality and domestic discord. Among the Romans, in the beginning, it did not even refer to the married couple and their children, but to the slaves alone. Famulus means a household slave and familia signifies the totality of slaves belonging to one individual. The expression was invented by the romans to describe a new social organism, the head of which had under him wife and children and a number of slaves, under Roman paternal power, with power of life and death over them all. . Friedrich Engels
34
Favoring 'resolution' the way we do, it is hard for us men to write great love stories. Why?, because we want to tell too much. We aren’t satisfied unless at the end of the story the characters are lying there, panting. Roman Payne
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The moment her hymen was plucked from her body in the wilderness, Her soul was taken from sanity. Roman Payne
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The first draft doesn't have to be perfect, but it does have to be written! Heather Robinson
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The world is mere change, and this life, opinion. Marcus Aurelius
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...to be able to enjoy the life you have spent, is to live it twice. Marcus Valerius Martialis
39
When I was younger, I would cling to life because life was at the top of the turning wheel. But like the song of my gypsy girl, the great wheel turns over and lands on a minor key. It is then that you come of age and life means nothing to you. To live, to die, to overdose, to fall in a coma in the street.. it is all the same. It is only in the peach innocence of youth that life is at its crest on top of the wheel. And there being only life, the young cling to it, they fear death… And they should! ..For they are 'in' life. . Roman Payne
40
It’s not that we have to leave this life one day, it's how many things we have to leave all at once: holding hands, hotel rooms, wine, summertime, drunkenness, and the physics of falling leaves, clothing, myrrh, perfumed hair, flirting friends, two strangers' glance; the reflection of the moon, with words like, 'Soon'. . 'do you want me?'. . '..to lie enlaced'. . 'and sleep entwined' thinking ahead, with thoughts behind..?' Ô, Why! Why can’t we leave this life slowly?. Roman Payne
41
After joyfully working each morning, I would leave off around midday to challenge myself to a footrace. Speeding along the sunny paths of the Jardin du Luxembourg, ideas would breed like aphids in my head–for creative invention is easy and sublime when air cycles quickly through the lungs and the body is busy at noble tasks. Roman Payne
42
What a face this girl possessed! – Could I neither die then nor gaze at her face every day, I would need to recreate it through painting or sculpture, or through fatherhood, until a second such face could be born. Roman Payne
43
Those who are ignorant of Geology, find no difficulty in believing that the world was made as it is; and the shepherd, untutored in history, sees no reason to regard the green mounds which indicate the site of a Roman camp, as aught but part and parcel of the primeval hill-side. Thomas Henry Huxley
44
It was a time I slept in many rooms, called myself by many names. I wandered through the quarters of the city like alluvium wanders the river banks. I knew every kind of joy, ascents of every hue. Mine was the twilight and the morning. Mine was a world of rooftops and love songs. Roman Payne
45
Looking back on my life, I sigh. The caprice of youth goes with the wind, I’ve no regrets. Roman Payne
46
The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn. Marcus Tullius Cicero
47
The disappearance of the presence of beauty is the most despairing of events on this time-wheel of ours that rolls onward towards death. Roman Payne
48
Life is Not a perpetual climb towards Greatness.For our family, ourselves, and friends, It is but sad Decay, so, Let every girl die after her Hebé (Ἥβη).And every man after his Aristeia(ἀριστεία). Roman Payne
49
Wherever you go in the next catastrophé Be it sickroom, or prison, or cemet’ry Do not fear that your stay will besolit’ry Countless souls share your fate, you’ll have company! Roman Payne
50
I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side. Roman Payne
51
Why the Romans, Father?" I asked him one afternoon. "Because, my child, they teach us how to bear suffering in a world of injustice where all faith is dead, " he answered. Judith Merkle Riley
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A writer needs to ingest love to be passionate. Passion is a metabolite of love, and good writing is an active metabolite of passion. Roman Payne
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It made the woman feel like a thousand seas had come together from all worlds, like faraway lands had been bridged together, and the vastness of the known and the unknown were somehow easier to comprehend. Cristina M. Sburlea
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The birthing wolf, Her heart fed with tenderness, Gave forth from ripe brown nipples, Food to feed the universe. Roman Payne
55
What a face this girl possessed! –could I not gaze at it every day I would need to recreate it through painting, sculpture, or fatherhood until a second such face is born. Her face, at once innocent and feral, soft and wild! Her mouth voluptuous. Eyes deep as oceans, her eyes as wide as planets. I likened her to the slender Psyché and judged that the perfection of her face ennobled everything unclean around her: the dusty hems of her bunched-up skirt, the worn straps of her nightshirt; the blackened soles of her tiny bare feet, the coal-stained balcony bricks upon which she sat, and that dusty wrought-ironwork that framed her perch. All this and the pungent air! –almost foul, with so many odors. Ô, that and the spicy night! …Pungency, spice, filth and night, dust and light; all things dark did blossom in sight; flower and bloom, the night has its pearl too–the moon! And once a month it will make the face of this tender girl bloom. Roman Payne
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We look up to see if it is day or night. If stars burn cool and moon does shine, We take to smoke divine and wine. If breath of sun does belch its heat, we boil coffee and prepare to eat. Roman Payne
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We look up to see if it is day or night. If stars burn cool and moon does shine, we take to smoke divine and wine. If breath of sun does belch its heat, we boil coffee and prepare to eat. Roman Payne
58
In Sanskrit, there exists no word for ‘The Individual’ (L’Individu). En Grèce antique, il n’y avait aucun mot pour dire ‘Devoir’ (Duty). In French, the word for ‘Wife’ is the same as the word for ‘Woman.’ En anglais, nous n’avons aucun mot semblable à l’exquise ‘Jouissance! Roman Payne
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Spanish rain, A maiden’s dress, Apothecary pills And ancient thrills; Melancholy kills A girl’s caress. Roman Payne
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I sat up in the strange bed fearing it had been a dream, afraid I would never see her again. Not because I wanted anything from her, only her presence. The disappearance of the presence of beauty is the most despairing of events on this time-wheel of ours that rolls onward towards death. Roman Payne
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Spanish rain, A maiden’s dress, Apothecary pills And ancient thrills; Melancholy kills A girl’s caress.(– Roman Payne; Valencia, Spain, November 2nd 2012) Roman Payne
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Women are extraordinary creatures! Roman Payne
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If I were in his( Prophet Muhammad) presence, I would wash his feet. Hercules
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There are times when a man should sleep entwined in the warm flesh of a woman, his flanks plummeting into the perfumed bedding while she lovingly rolls her sweet shoulders into his chest. Whereas, there are times to be stoic and solitary–sleeping alone on a wooden board with twill sheets and splinters that scratch the skin. Roman Payne
65
The world is sacred, of course, it is full of gods, numina, great powers and presences. We give some of them names — Mars of the fields and the war; Vesta the fire; Ceres the grain; Mother Tellus the earth; the Penates of the storehouse. The rivers, the springs. And in the stormcloud and the light is the great power called the father god. But they aren’t people. They don’t love and hate, they aren’t for or against. They accept the worship due them, which augments their power, through which we live. . Unknown
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No power on earth, if it labours beneath the burden of fear, can possibly be strong enough to survive. Marcus Tullius Cicero
67
The tragedy of Dionysus: Wear a black robe at night, and white you’ll wear by morning; but wear a purple robe to the midnight feast, and when you wake you’ll dress in black to mourn your soul deceased. Roman Payne
68
In the make-up of human beings, intelligence counts for more than our hands, and that is our true strength. Ovid
69
If you love my work, you are a good critic. If you do not love my work, you are a 'not good' critic. Roman Payne
70
So our virtues Lie in the interpretation of the time: And power, unto itself most commendable, Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair To extol what it hath done. One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail. William Shakespeare
71
The Romans feared their dead. In fact, Roman funeral customs derived from a need to propitiate the sensibilities of the departed. The very word funus may be translated as dead body, funeral ceremony, or murder. There was a genuine concern that, if not treated appropriately, the spirits of the dead, or manes, would return to wreak revenge Catharine Arnold
72
Somewhere I’d heard, or invented perhaps, that the only pleasures found during a waning moon are misfortunes in disguise. Superstition aside, I avoid pleasure during the waning or absent moon out of respect for the bounty this world offers me. I profit from great harvests in life and believe in the importance of seasons. Roman Payne
73
I have a serious question."" I will give a serious answer."" Can a god be killed?" The humor drained from Roman's face. "Well, that depends on if you're a pantheist or a Marxist.""What's the difference?"" The first believes that divinity is the universe. The two are synonymous and nonexistent without each other. The second believes in anthropocentrism, seeing man in the center of the universe, and god as just an invention of human conscience. Of course, if you follow Nietzsche, you can kill God just by thinking about him. Ilona Andrews
74
Do not disagree with each other, enrich the soldiers, despise everyone else. Lucius Septimus Severus
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Celebrate the Ides of March but remember your own warnings less as Caesar learned, you can get killed in many ways Phillip Gary Smith
76
It is growing cold. Winter is putting footsteps in the meadow. What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this wood! One would say milk-colored maidens are dancing on the petals of orchids. How coldly burns our sun! One would say its rays of light are shards of snow, one imagines the sun lives upon a snow crested peak on this day. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes. Helplessness has weakened me. Wandering has wearied my legs. . Roman Payne
77
About five meters ahead, Nico was swinging his black sword with one hand, holding the scepter of Diocletian aloft with the other. He kept shouting orders at the legionnaires, but they paid him no atte Rick Riordan
78
Is your life really so bad? This city is full of opportunities —”“Can you call it a city?” Marcus asked. “No gymnasium, no theatre, no forum? Where is the life a Roman man should lead? Matthew Johnson