86 Roman Quotes

When exploring the wisdom of ancient civilizations, one cannot overlook the profound insights offered by Roman philosophers, statesmen, and writers. From the stoic reflections of Marcus Aurelius to the sharp wit of Cicero, Roman quotes have transcended time, continuing to inspire and guide us in the modern age. In this collection, we've curated 86 of the most impactful Roman quotes, each carrying timeless wisdom and a glimpse into the thoughts and values that shaped an empire. Whether you're searching for motivation, reflection, or a deeper understanding of human nature, these quotes offer a rich tapestry of knowledge and inspiration. Dive in and let the words of these legendary figures enhance your perspective on life.

1. “soles occidere et redire possunt: nobis cum semel occidit breuis lux, nox est perpetua una dormienda. ” - Catullus

2. “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

3. “Paradoxul evident pe care îl prezintă psihologia poporului român, acest paradox subtil, aproape imposibil de intuit din afară, face din noi unul dintre cele mai necunoscute, sau mai prost cunoscute , popoare ale Europei. Românii sunt poporul cel mai supus, cel mai de nerăsculat, nu pentru că se lasă dominaţi de ideile celor ce îi stăpânesc, dimpotrivă, pentru că nici o ideologie nu-i seduce, nici chiar revolta, care-i întotdeauna o ideologie. Faţă de tot ce i se spune (şi cu cât se încăpăţinează mai mult), el păstrează o distanţă ironică, din ce în ce mai refractară. Această impertiabilitate funciară la entuziasm şi fanatism îl face în acelaşi timp şi de necucerit, şi de nerevoltat. Şi asta pentru că, pe de o parte, orice revoltă presupune un elan mai mult sau mai puţin entuziast, fanatic, iar românul nu este nu numai capabil de fanatism, ci, mai mult, fanatismul îl repugnă şi – mai mult chiar – i se pare ridicol şi îi trezeşte hazul; pe de altă parte, pentru că teroarea care pare, văzută din afară, insuportabilă, ricoşează de realitate pe suprafaţa alunecoasă a ironiei populare, nereuşind să pătrundă în interior, nereuşind să realizete o presiune interioară pe măsura grozăviei ei istorice. Deci, revolta nu se produce, pentru că nu are condiiţii subiective (predispoziţie psihologică, dar nici obiective (impactul real asupra indivizilor). Astfel se ajunge la paradoxala situaţie în care un popor, care nu poate fi manipulat, poate totuşi fi guvernat cu uşurinţă. Libertatea interioară se transformă în condiţie şi chiar în unealta a supunerii exterioare.” - Blandiana Ana

4. “The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

5. “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

6. “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

7. “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

8. “Cinta itu mensucikan akal, mengenyahkan kekhawatiran, memunculkan keberanian, mendorong berpenampilan rapi, membangkitkan selera makan, menjaga akhlak mulia, membangkitkan semangat, mengenakan wewangian, memperhatikan pergaulan yang baik, serta menjaga adab dan kepribadian. Tapi cinta juga merupakan ujian bagi orang-orang yang shaleh dan cobaan bagi ahli ibadah.” - Ibnu Qayyim Al-Jauziyah

9. “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

10. “I regained my soul through literature after those times I'd lost it to wild-eyed gypsy girls on the European streets.” - Roman Payne

11. “The lot of the brideto be wed before beddesired until rotten.The lot of the authorto be read before bedadmired then forgotten.” - Roman Payne

12. “May a man live well-, and long-enough, to leave many joyful widows behind him.” - Roman Payne

13. “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, eschewThus 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

14. “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

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. “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

17. “Qu'est-ce que le roman, en effet, sinon cet univers où l'action trouve sa forme, où les mots de la fin sont prononcés, les êtres livrés aux êtres, où toute vie prend le visage du destin. Le monde romanesque n'est que la correction de ce monde-ci, suivant le désir profond de l'homme. Car il s'agit bien du même monde. La souffrance est la même, le mensonge et l'amour. Les héros ont notre langage, nos faiblesses, nos forces. Leur univers n'est ni plus beau ni plus édifiant que le nôtre. Mais eux, du moins, courent jusqu'au bout de leur destin, et il n'est même jamais de si bouleversants héros que ceux qui vont jusqu'à l'extrémité de leur passion.[...] Voici donc un monde imaginaire, mais créé par la correction de celui-ci, un monde où la douleur peut, si elle le veut, durer jusqu'à la mort, où les passions ne sont jamais distraites, où les êtres sont livrés à l'idée fixe et toujours présents les uns aux autres. L'homme s'y donne enfin à lui-même la forme et la limite apaisante qu'il poursuit en vain dans sa condition. Le roman fabrique du destin sur mesure. C'est ainsi qu'il concurrence la création et qu'il triomphe, provisoirement, de la mort.” - Albert Camus

18. “hell is full of good wishes and desires.” - Bernard of Clairvaux

19. “Gregori jolted back. "Snap! You couldn't control one measly mortal?"Roman clenched his fists. "No."Gregori slapped a hand against his brow. "Snap!""Why the hell are you snapping? Are you a turtle?" It was times like this that firing Gregoriseemed to be the wise choice.” - Kerrelyn Sparks

20. “After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro... two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.” - W.E.B. DuBois

21. “Si je dois mourir dans cette belle vie, je veux que ça soit fait par tes belles mains.” - Roman Payne

22. “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

23. “Be there a picnic for the devil,an orgy for the satyr,and a wedding for the bride.” - Roman Payne

24. “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

25. “The birthing wolf,Her heart fed with tenderness,Gave forth from ripe brown nipples,Food to feed the universe.” - Roman Payne

26. “She wakes in a puddle of sunlight.Her hands asleep beside her.Her hair draped on the lawn like a mantle of cloth.” - Roman Payne

27. “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

28. “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

29. “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

30. “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

31. “I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.” - Roman Payne

32. “The less my hope, the hotter my love” - Terence

33. “Romanlarımla evlenip, çocuk yerine de kısa hikayeler edineceğim.” - Jack Kerouac

34. “Discover how to visit the past and bring yesterday's stories into our lives today” - Gillian Hovell, 'Visiting the Past'

35. “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

36. “We made love outdoorsWithout 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

37. “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

38. “Fortune's fool! How we humans lie upon beauty like lizards upon a sun-baked rock.” - Roman Payne

39. “All I really want to do today is go to the book store, drink coffee and read.” - Ann Marie Frohoff

40. “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

41. “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

42. “You remember our talk about purpose and meaning?" he asked me, the smile disappearing. "Well, I think this might be mine. I think this is what I was meant to do, Georgina.” - Richelle Mead

43. “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

44. “I wanted to confront her, to make her see the folly of her religion, to change her diet, to help her spend less on makeup and other nonessentials, to make her worship every biological moment she was offered instead of some badly punctured deity. I also wanted to kiss her for some reason, feel the life pulsing in those big Catholic lips, remind myself of the primacy of the living animal, of my time amongst the Romans.” - Gary Shteyngart

45. “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

46. “Tine-ma aici cat vrei,si cand nu ma mai vrei,spune-mi sa ma duc” - Radu Tudoran

47. “Ce-i cu ochii tăi? Parcă ard! O să fie o zi când ai să te uiţi aşa în ochii altui bărbat?” - Radu Tudoran

48. “El mi-a dat tot ce a avut, dintr-o dată, şi când inima i s-a golit, a plecat. E un risipitor.” - Radu Tudoran

49. “Primul ceai, prima sărutare, prima întâmplare de dragoste, toate sunt la fel: nu poţi niciodată să le simţi gustul.” - Radu Tudoran

50. “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

51. “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

52. “Dispariţia iubirii e ca o oglindă întoarsă, nu se mai vede nimic, te uiţi zadarnic în ea. Gestul tău nu se mai reflectă, nu-i mai răspunde nimeni. Eşti singur.” - Marin Preda

53. “Nu, n-am nevoie de scuze. Mi-era dor de iubire… Un dor vechi şi cumplit.” - Cella Serghi

54. “În ce mă priveşte, când apune soarele mă gândesc: A mai trecut o zi. Încă o zi în care n-am făcut nimic. Iar când răsare soarele, nu ştiu încotro să apuc, pe ce drum trebuie să merg, unde vreau să ajung. Eram sigură că fericirea există undeva, dincolo de zidurile casei noastre. Că într-o zi voi pune mâna pe ea, aşa cum pui mâna pe o ceaşcă sau pe scoarţa unui copac. Că dragostea este supremul miracol…” - Cella Serghi

55. “Ţipătul nu este un argument, este o izbucnire de disperare;dacă fiecare şi-ar ţipa disperările pe toate drumurile, nu s-ar maiputea trai.” - Octavian Paler

56. “La drept vorbind, toată viaţa mea e un şir de pasiuni eşuate.Mereu am luat-o de la început.” - Octavian Paler

57. “Mă aruncam în gol cu o exaltare tulbure şi pe urmă mă întrebam dece-am făcut-o. Eu însumi nu ştiam prea bine ce vroiam ascultîndcum fierbea sîngele în mine.” - Octavian Paler

58. “Cu ce rămîn dacă alung amintirile? Nu rămîn cu nimic.” - Octavian Paler

59. “Ea nu e în mobile,nu e în lucruri,nu e în atmosferă,nici măcar în străinătate.Ea e în mine,în sângele meu.Cum să scap de ea?În ce fel s-o alung?” - Mihail Drumeş

60. “Să nu-ţi vinzi sufletul,nu-l mai poţi răscumpăra.” - Mihail Drumeş

61. “Împotriva cui să lupt mai repede,dacă totul luptă împotriva mea?” - Mihail Drumeş

62. “Între noi nu mai era,să zicem nimic.Nimic în afară de Marea Iubire.” - Mihail Drumeş

63. “You Romans wash too much to be true men. Washing is for women, to clean our breeches and our vests. And even they barely let their toes touch the stream! Hah!” - Andrew Levkoff

64. “Coach," Annabeth said, "it was an accident. We were talking, and we fell asleep.""Besides," Percy said, "you're starting to sound like Terminus."Hedge narrowed his eyes. "Is that an insult, Jackson? 'Cause I'll-I'll Terminus you, buddy!” - Rick Riordan

65. “That's not fair," I said."Georgina," he said simply. "We're in Hell.” - Richelle Mead

66. “My mind struggled to formulate a coherent though, any thought. I opened my mouth. "Your pajamas have Eeyore on them.""I like Eeyore. He's sensible. A sober outlook on life never hurt anyone.” - Ilona Andrews

67. “Before he left Rome, Marcus had been in a fair way to becoming a charioteer, in Cradoc's sense of the word, and now desire woke in him, not to possess this team, for he was not one of those who much be able to say "Mine" before they can truly enjoy a thing, but to have them out and harnessed; to feel the vibrating chariot floor under him, and the spread reins quick with life in his hands, and these lovely, fiery little creatures in the traces, his will and theirs at one.” - Rosemary Sutcliff

68. “Women are extraordinary creatures!” - Roman Payne

69. “Two blue men the size of football players walking through a store wrapped in Roman gladiator armor was bound to attract attention.” - Missy Lyons

70. “Une fille sans nattes est comme une ville sans ponts.” - Roman Payne

71. “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

72. “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

73. “Şi a găsit-o printre miile de oameni indiferenţi. I-a zărit mai întâi ochii verzi cu luminile calde si moi. S-a cutremurat până în temeliile fiinţei lui, ca şi când i s-ar fi lămurit fulgerător toate misterele vieţii. Apoi li s-au încrucişat privirile şi din uimirea ei a înţeles că şi ea l-a recunoscut, deşi nu l-a mai văzut niciodată.” - Liviu Rebreanu

74. “Bărbatul şi femeia se caută în vălmăşagul imens al vieţii omeneşti. Un bărbat din milioanele de bărbaţi doreşte pe o singură femeie din milioanele de femei. Unul singur şi una singură. Adam şi Eva.” - Liviu Rebreanu

75. “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

76. “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

77. “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

78. “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

79. “Spanish rain,A maiden’s dress,Apothecary pillsAnd ancient thrills;Melancholy killsA girl’s caress.(—Roman Payne; Valencia, Spain, November 2nd 2012)” - Roman Payne

80. “It’s never a good thing when the black volhv says “Uh-oh” and then runs for his life.” - Ilona Andrews

81. “Your favorite volhv showed up half an hour ago, complaining about his lack of sleep and stupid gods. He says he brought his Batman belt.” - Ilona Andrews

82. “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

83. “Looking back on my life, I sigh. The caprice of youth goes with the wind, I’ve no regrets.” - Roman Payne

84. “The world is mere change, and this life, opinion.” - Marcus Aurelius

85. “I was at Peter's fondue party,before that was at the mall. Peter's tell me about Peter's, Did anything weird happen there? I was at a fondue party at a vampires everything about that is weird.” - Richelle Mead

86. “Istoria se repetă, iar timpul nu există. Îl împărţim ca să ne ordonăm puţin vieţile, cu toate că în realitate timpul este plan şi nu are nici început, nici sfârşit.” - Enrique Moriel