“All things change; nothing perishes.”

“My purpose is to tell of bodies that have been changed into shapes of different kinds.”

“Nothing is stronger than habit.”

“My soul would sing of metamorphoses.But since, o gods, you were the source of thesebodies becoming other bodies, breatheyour breath into my book of changes: maythe song I sing be seamless as its wayweaves from the world's beginning to our day.”

“O gods, \ If any gods will listen, I deserve \ Punishment surely, I do not refuse it, \ But lest, in living, I offend the living, Offend the dead in death, drive me away \ From either realm, change me somehow, refuse me \ Both life and death! -- Myrrha, before being transformed into a tree”

“The cause is hidden. The effect is visible to all.”

“Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.”